SHAH ALAM, March 18 — The Unity Government inherited an administration that came with a lot of damages, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said.
Rafizil who is also Economy Minister, used the analogy of the current government having been handed down a ‘house’ with heavy damages caused by the previous ‘occupant’.
“The pillars have been destroyed by termites, the floor and roof are fragile and riddled with holes, water and electricity supply have been cut after the previous occupant failed to pay the bills,” he said in his winding-up speech at the PKR Special National Congress 2023 here today.
Rafizi said such a situation posed new and different challenges for the Unity Government in its desire to assist the people through sustainable government policies.
“These challenges dropped on us all at one go where our position and financial access are limited, which means we have to make choices.
“When we inherit a house like this, do we settle the utility bill arrears first, or fix the termite-infested pillars, or choose to live with holes on our floor and roof,” he said.
However, Rafizi said through the Unity Government’s programmes and initiatives that are starting to bear fruit, the people are increasingly able to differentiate between the current government and the opposition, whom he said were only good at disputing the government’s efforts to repair the damage done by the previous administration.
Meanwhile, Rafizi said that based on the latest facts and data that he himself reviewed from the results of the 15th general election (GE15), he was confident that Pakatan Harapan (PH) was still getting positive support from Malay voters, youths in particular.
He said there was indeed a shift in the number of votes to Perikatan Nasional (PN) in GE15 but it was only in certain areas and not the whole country.
“Look at it as a whole, especially Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang which are our strongholds, there is actually no big difference when we compare the level of support of Malay voters in 2022 (GE15) to 2018 (GE14).
“For example, voter support in Selangor is more than 40 per cent in the eastern area in 2022 and even in 2018 it was also more than 40 per cent, and there was a big shift (of votes) on the west coast of Selangor but it was more from UMNO to PN. It was not PH that lost votes,” he said, adding that the same situation was also seen in Negeri Sembilan and Penang.
As such, Rafizi brushed off the Opposition’s claims that it was confident of capturing Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang from PH in the upcoming state elections.
