‘Pakatan rotting from within’

KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says Pakatan Harapan will break apart from “political gangrene” due to internal squabbling.

The coalition, he added, is dying slowly due to internal as well as intra-party power struggles.

He believes that Pakatan would fall in the next general election as people have become disenchanted with the coalition for failing to fulfil its general election promises and address economic woes.

“The rakyat have started opening their eyes as the drama unfolds.

“Infighting within and among Pakatan’s component parties are an open secret. They employ various strategies to dominate each other.

“Netizens are criticising Pakatan on social media. The rakyat cannot be fooled forever, ” he said when opening the 73rd MIC annual general meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.

Also present were MIC president Tan Sri S.A. Vigneswaran, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan and former MIC president Tun S. Samy Vellu.

Ahmad Zahid also said that Pakatan seemed bankrupt of ideas, as they appeared to adopt Barisan’s policies and ideas apart from changing the names of schemes introduced by the previous government.

He is optimistic that Barisan and its new ally PAS can wrest control of Putrajaya if snap polls are called.

He pointed out that Japan’s Democratic Party only lasted three years as a new ruling party, adding that Pakatan could face the same fate as the one-term government.

“If they are inefficient, we can replace them, ” he said.

He said support for Pakatan was eroding as there were no clear plans by the current government to drive the economy forward.

“Since May last year, 1,691 government contract workers lost their jobs and 32,928 people in the private sector were laid off, ” he added.

Ahmad Zahid, who is Umno president, praised MIC for taking the initiative to forge ties with PAS leaders and hoped to see MCA leaders doing the same.

Meanwhile, Vigneswaran said that the party has published a book titled MIC’d Success (from 1946 to 2018) to showcase initiatives the party took for the betterment of the community.

“This will effectively put an end to false claims that the party had done nothing for the community, ” he said.

Vigneswaran said one of the party’s greatest achievements was the Maju Institute of Educational Development that set up a revolving fund in aid of students.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/08/26/pakatan-rotting-from-within#FSYHTvfBQB5oTbl1.99