PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional’s (BN) general election (GE15) manifesto focuses on the economy while Pakatan Harapan (PH) places greater emphasis on social issues, says a think tank.
The Centre for Market Education (CME) said it reached this conclusion after analysing the pledges made by the two coalitions.
According to CME, its analysis focused on the economic contents of the manifestos to identify their strengths and weaknesses, in particular on how they would support stable economic growth and boost international competitiveness.
“BN’s manifesto includes a good hint of federalism and a clear shift from race-based to need-based affirmative action. It also introduces good points for rebuilding the pro-investment vocation of Malaysia.
“If properly developed, these may give a good competitive advantage to the country by creating good conditions for attracting foreign direct investments (FDI),” CME said in a statement.
BN has, among other things, pledged to explore the devolution of power from the federal government to the state governments to increase efficiency.
To drive inflow of FDI, CME found that BN had also pledged to formulate a comprehensive migrant worker policy as well as set limits on government-linked companies’ investment and involvement in certain industries to provide opportunities for private entities.
CME said the much-welcomed 2% tax cut for the M40 group should be accompanied by a general strategy on spending cuts and improving revenue collection.
Meanwhile, PH’s manifesto was more widely devoted to social development such as for families, youths, and the elderly, besides ensuring freedom of speech and environmental protection. It contained fewer details on economic growth, CME said.
“In particular it lacks a comprehensive strategy for rebuilding a pro-investment ecosystem.”
Among the key promises by PH are building more government clinics in high density areas and areas with high poverty incidence, as well as free life insurance schemes and funeral compensation amounting to RM10,000 for six million gig workers.
It also promises to provide scholarships for the B40 to reduce dependency on student loans, such as PTPTN.
The think tank found that both manifestos included a strategy for food security, with BN’s leaning more towards free trade, a pillar that CME considers vital.
However, CME noted that both manifestos were weak in terms of implementation and did not explain how they intended to achieve their targets.
Both manifestos missed out on stating the cost involved to reach their targets as well as how the targets might be implemented in a financially sustainable manner, it said.
