KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 – A Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government will reform
the market and eliminate corruption to ensure continuous economic
growth, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim promised today.
The opposition leader told the Al-Jazeera news channel today that
Malaysia’s budget deficit was caused by poor governance and “endemic
corruption”.
“We believe in market reforms,” said Anwar in an interview with
Al-Jazeera that was broadcast live today, after Parliament was dissolved
earlier this morning.
“We’re very strong in distributive justice and affirmative action for
the poor. We must cut corruption and ensure the country is governed in a
transparent manner,” he added.
Anwar (picture) stressed that good governance was
PR’s central focus in Election 2013, which is expected to be the most
closely contested in history, saying: “There’s a clear position to
respect the rights of all Malaysians and rid the country of excesses and
corruption.”
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told newswire Reuters last
month that a smaller parliamentary majority for Barisan Nasional (BN)
could hamper his efforts in curbing the budget deficit and may cause
economic instability.
The budget deficit dropped to 4.5 per cent last year from more than 6 per cent when Najib took office in 2009.
Malaysia’s debt, however, has hit 53 per cent of the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) – close to the ceiling of 55 per cent – up from 43 per
cent in 2008.
Analysts have said that Najib’s transformation initiatives under the
Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and the Government
Transformation Programme (GTP) contributed to the GDP growth rate of 6.4
per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year.
Najib said in a televised address earlier today that a strong mandate would enable the government to develop the nation.
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