Mahathir pledges that Pakatan would do five things after winning power at the general election:
- Catch M01 and his cohorts.
- Set up a royal commission of inquiry to probe the siphoning of public funds via 1MDB and Felda.
- Set up an independent body to recover public assets and money stolen or siphoned off through corruption.
- Make the MACC an independent body that reports directly to Parliament.
- Abolish direct negotiations for government contracts.
Pakatan pledges to eradicate corruption for the good of the country, adds Mahathir, and make it among the country among the 10 cleanest nations in the world. The billions lost through 1MDB, for instance, could have built 460,000 low-cost homes, provided free education or built 50 hospitals.
Estimated crowd by one eyewitness earlier in the night: up to 8,000. Blog visitor PolitiScheiss, who was there after 8pm, puts the figure at 20,000-30,000. Rally organisers say 25,000. Another friend at the rally says it was unlikely to be 25,000, maybe 10,000-15,000. Perhaps slightly below expectations.
The “boring” football match between Liverpool and Manchester United may have affected the turnout at the rally. Or in this age of social media, many could have been content to follow the event on social media, having already decided whom to vote for.
But blog visitor Khun Pana wonders:
Are those five “pledges” sufficient to secure votes? As it is, it all seems to be limited to anti MO1 and nothing for the commoners.
And if the Pakatan group wins power to form the federal government, will they push forward with the IPCMC (police reforms), local city/town elections, reforms to education, and a secular Malaysia or even with a simple thing like bringing down public transport fares.
Or will it continue to run (the government) just like the BN did? It needs to convince the new voters and change their mindset.
PolitiScheiss concurs:
… the speakers were too heavy on condemnations of corruption, kleptocracy, the 1MDB issue.. and shouts of “Reformasi!” instead of saying more about how a Pakatan government, if elected, will deal with issues such as the rising cost of living, unaffordable housing prices, public transit, declining education standards, affordable public healthcare, the problem of flash floods, environmental degradation and so forth.
Yes, if Pakatan wants to capture public imagination, it should go beyond wiping out corruption and tell us how it can improve the people’s overall wellbeing and quality of life.
