PUTRAJAYA, Nov 8 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is giving top priority to the pledge to fight corruption while being committed to fulfilling other promises made in the last general election, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“The priority is (fighting) corruption, we have passed many laws about corruption and we have set up new agency (related to corruption) because we are very serious about it,” he told a press conference after chairing the National Government Pledge Committee meeting here yesterday.
The prime minister said from the reports he gathered, there were no more large-scale corruption cases, while small cases of corruption had also been on the decline.
On PH’s achievement after administering the country for one and a half year, Dr Mahathir said so many success stories have been created.
“When we review our progress for one and a half year, I think nobody can challenge us in saying that we have successfully taken over the government and continue the administration of this country to the point where people now respect us. They don’t call us kleptocracy,” he said.
On PH’s efforts to fulfil the promises it made in the last general election, Dr Mahathir, who is also PH chairman, said most of the promises had already been fulfilled and the government still has more time to fulfil the others.
“We promise (to fulfil it) in five years. The five years have yet to end but there are so many things that we have achieved, some goals are half-achieved, but we still have time to fully achieve it,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said although PH is the new government of Malaysia, it is respectable and well-accepted by other countries.
“(At the ASEAN Summit) in Bangkok recently, our voice was heard and many of our suggestions were accepted. This shows that the PH government is well recognised. So, we cannot say that we have achieved less,” he said.
While saying that many countries had made Malaysia an exemplary model, Dr Mahathir said: “If we are not a good model, they will stay away from us, but today, they come and express their admiration for this country.”
Dr Mahathir said if compared to other countries, the transition of power Malaysia had taken place in a systematic manner and in accordance with the rule of law.
“In some countries, there have been people’s uprising or a civil war because they cannot accept the election results, but in Malaysia, the transition (of power) was very smooth,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said staying together as a coalition was the biggest promise that had been fulfilled by PH since it formed the new government after winning the last general election in 2018.
While admitting that it was not easy as they had different ideas and representing each of their own parties, he said: “You know where I came from, but we stayed together and now you see they are with me.”
Meanwhile, the prime minister also rapped the opposition for ‘trying to teach’ the government on how to administer the country when they themselves had failed to practice what they preached when they were in power.
“Why didn’t they advise their leader before when he stole the money? They supported him blindly. Now, they want to teach us how to administer the country.
“When their leader was involved in corruption, they said nothing because if they criticised him, they will be sacked. That’s a dictatorship.
“But it was unlike the dictator the country had before, that dictator was good, he lasted for 22 years. Whereas the dictator who took over in 2009 could not last long because his policy is ‘Cash is King’,” he said, stressing that such a policy was never accepted by the PH government.
— Bernama
