Najib v Anwar: Showdown begins
Najib’s reforms, survival at stake; it may be Anwar’s last shot at age 65
Financial services group Morgan Stanley said in a research note last month that while the broad economic thrusts of both PR and BN seek to stimulate domestic demand and increase foreign investment, PR’s proposal has a more leftist slant. PR has a stronger focus on “equitable distribution and redistribution of resources away from corporates towards rakyat (people)”, it said.
Carolyn Hong, Straits Times
At long last, the showdown begins.
Malaysia’s King dissolved the 12th Parliament with less than a month to go before Prime Minister Najib Razak’s mandate ends.
Within weeks, Datuk Seri Najib will be leading his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to face 13.3 million voters at the ballot box. He has to convince voters to give him a strong mandate to continue pushing the reforms that he has made a hallmark of his four-year administration.
Just as importantly, he also needs strong support from voters to remain in control of his Umno party, which is headed for party polls this year.
The outcome of this general election is as crucial politically for him as it is for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s opposition leader and his rival for the job of PM. This could be Mr Anwar’s last shot at the role, as he is already 65 and helming a fragile coalition that needs a good electoral boost to hold together.
Both have marshalled an impressive array of promises to woo the country’s voters, about half of whom are below 40 years old.
BN is banking on a 50-year track record of development and a slate of reforms, versus the opposition Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR’s) message of change and promises of good governance.
Najib versus Anwar: How do their policies stack up?
For Mr Najib, it has been four years of crafting the image of a reformist. He unveiled a systematic programme of reforms beginning in 2009, with improvements in public services like the police and schools, followed by economic reforms to double incomes to US$15,000 (S$18,600) by 2020, then political reforms such as repealing the law on preventive detention.
He presented his final report card on March19, in which he said Malaysia was well on the way to becoming a high-income economy, as per capita income was now US$9,970.
Mr Najib has sweetened all these with generous cash handouts since 2011, dishing out billions to households earning below RM3,000 (S$1,200) a month, students, taxi drivers, fishermen, mechanics and other low-income earners.
Mr Anwar, on the other hand, is holding himself up as a figure of change from a corrupt government that has overstayed its welcome. PR has also come up with a detailed manifesto, which it says will better serve Malaysians while resuscitating the economy. Among its promises are free tertiary education, lower tax on cars and a review of Malaysia’s income tax rates.
The Selangor and Penang state governments, which it controls, have carried out their own mini version of handouts, such as shopping vouchers for the elderly and free water.
These approaches are markedly different, says Mr Wan Saiful Wan Jan, who heads the libertarian think-tank Ideas. BN’s policies, such as its New Economic Model, are focused on wealth creation to meet challenges in a globalised world, while PR focuses more on wealth distribution.
Financial services group Morgan Stanley said in a research note last month that while the broad economic thrusts of both PR and BN seek to stimulate domestic demand and increase foreign investment, PR’s proposal has a more leftist slant. PR has a stronger focus on “equitable distribution and redistribution of resources away from corporates towards rakyat (people)”, it said.
It noted that PR is pushing for greater decentralisation of power from the federal government to the states, to create more balanced and autonomous economic development.
Mr Najib’s policies also continue to uphold affirmative action for Malays, while Mr Anwar has pledged to dismantle it for a needs-based policy.
But if there are marked differences on paper, a different story emerges in implementation.
While BN’s policies focus on generating high income, it has veered towards a welfare state with its many cash handouts, said Mr Wan Saiful.
The director of University Malaya’s Centre for Democracy and Elections, Professor Mohd Redzuan Othman, notes that micro-targeting does work, for a short time. But in terms of Mr Najib’s macro reforms, analysts say, he has been less successful.
Despite anti-corruption promises, for example, the party has been riven by the cows-and-condo scandal which engulfed Umno women’s chief Shahrizat Jalil. Her husband has been charged with using part of a RM200 million government soft loan given to their family company for cattle farming to buy luxury condos instead.
As for PR, it has also dished out goodies like shopping vouchers for the elderly and free water in Selangor. But by and large, its energy has been focused on macro governance-related promises.
The Selangor and Penang governments are implementing measures such as open tenders and a green policy, with some success. Both states have managed to slash expenditure to balance their bud-gets for the first time in years.
