‘How many promises will PH break?’

Ex-G25 member Tawfik Ismail says Pakatan Harapan, in deciding to maintain BTN, has failed to keep its word.

(FMT) – Former G25 member Tawfik Ismail has accused Pakatan Harapan (PH) of going back on its promise to dismantle the National Civics Bureau (BTN) and other institutions that allegedly undermine national unity.

Commenting on a report that the government has decided against scrapping BTN, Tawfik noted that PH was once known to be strongly against the institution, going so far as accusing it of encouraging racism.

He claimed it was institutions like BTN and Jakim that kept Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in power during his first tenure by stoking fear over alleged threats to Islam and other Malay interests.

“These were Mahathir’s legacies,” he told FMT. “They perpetuated Barisan Nasional’s rule, which components of PH, minus PPBM, had long fought and campaigned against.

“Will pragmatism and political reality trump PH’s principles and ideals?”

Tawfik alleged that the ruling coalition made many promises with no intention of fulfilling them because it thought it had no chance of winning the recent election.

“The shock of winning and actually having on record the promises made probably puts a heavy burden on PH to deliver on promises it never expected to have to fulfil,” he said.

He also alleged that PH won many sympathy votes because it was the underdog and that some who voted for it did not have high expectations that it would make good on all of its promises.

However, he said, PH could not be absolved of fulfilling those promises now that it had won the election.

With the continuity of BTN and Jakim and the possibility that the National Security Council Act would be retained, Tawfik asked how many more promises PH intended to break.