Malaysia 'will go bankrupt' if PAS wins: Minister
Malaysia 'will go bankrupt' if PAS wins: Minister
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's party
yesterday warned voters that Malaysia's rapid development and
rich economy could be brought to ruin if the opposition was
elected to power in polls this month.
Hitting out at the tax-cutting and spending pledges made by
the fundamentalist Moslem Parti Islam (PAS), Law Minister Syed
Hamid Albar said Malaysia would be faced with a major financial
crisis which could lead to it "heading the Mexico way" if the PAS
was to run the country.
"We will go bankrupt, like Mexico, if PAS is to run the
economy the way it has pledged. The country's coffers will dry up
in no time," Syed Hamid said.
"They will not be able to sustain the existing financial
resources, much less have any savings at all if they were to cut
all those taxes and other revenues as promised in their
manifesto," said Syed Hamid, a senior official in Mahathir's
United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
UMNO, the country's largest political party is the linchpin of
the 14-member National Front coalition.
Voting for 192 parliamentary seats and 394 seats in 11 state
legislatures in the country's ninth general elections is set for
April 25.
Mahathir's National Front is almost certain to retain its two-
thirds majority in parliament, but is not taking any chances in
the critical states like northern Penang and northeastern
Kelantan and Trengganu, officials said.
The buoyant economy is a great boost for the ruling coalition.
The PAS, which draws much of its support from conservative
ethnic Malay Moslems in the northern Malay belt states of
Kelantan -- the only opposition-led state in the country -- as
well as Trengganu, Kedah and Perlis, has almost always finished
second-best to Mahathir's UMNO.
The Moslem party, which won Kelantan in the 1990 polls,
unveiled a 14-point manifesto at the weekend that pledged to cut
taxes and other revenues and to "save" Malaysians from the
present secular government.
It pledged to abolish or review all so-called repressive laws,
including the Internal Security Act, the Official Secrets Act,
and University Colleges Act.
Vowing to "place the interest of Malaysians above that of
foreigners," PAS said it would repeal moves to privatize
education.
Syed Hamid said the manifesto was "cooked up" by PAS to fish
for votes without considering the national interest.
In Penang, Mahathir told a 12,000-odd rally in driving rain
late Sunday that the country's development could grind to a halt
if the opposition was elected to power.
"If you decide to change your government, and have a different
form of government, then everything will come to a stop,"
Mahathir said.
Analysts said the high-powered rally in Penang, one of the
most industrialized states, signaled the coalition's concern over
the opposition threat in the state. Penang is a traditional
stronghold of the opposition Democratic Action Party.