Opposition's 100-day Reform Plan Unrealistic - Political Analysts

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 (Bernama) -- The 100-day reform plan which the opposition pact will implement if it takes over the federal government is regarded as a mere political promise and unrealistic by political analyst Prof Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharudin.
The director of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Ethnic Studies said most of the offers made were not new.
"They (opposition) are just trying to show that they have plans, and I find the ideas to be limited," he said, adding that the programmes contained in the reform plan had already been carried out by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
He was commenting on the plan which was unveiled at the Pakatan Rakyat national convention last December. It contains nine resolutions touching on management of the country, the economy and education which are to be implemented within 100 days of taking power if they win the 13th general election.
Citing the proposed abolishment of toll, Shamsul Amri said although it was a good proposal, he had doubts about the method.
"Actually, Khazanah (Nasional Berhad) and EPF (Employees Provident Fund) which have been suggested in the reform plan to take over the highway assets in order to abolish toll, have many other sectors to manage.
"But the opposition does not see this. They did not state the other areas being managed by EPF and Khazanah as they fear the fact that these two organisations has helped the government a lot.
"I was surprised why they did not state the real facts, and to me, what they said were only half-truths and hid the rest."
On the opposition pact's plan to increase the monthly salary of teachers by RM500, Shamsul Amri regarded it as childish as it would be better to raise the qualification of primary school teachers to degree level.
"This will give our students quality teachers, hence is more beneficial than giving the teachers RM500 more each, which will not quarantee quality education for our children," he argued.
Shamsul Amri, who was named one of three Distinguished Professors last Dec 15, said the people would not be taken in by the promises frequently made by the PAS-DAP-PKR pact.
Dr Sivamurugan Pandian, a political science lecturer at Universiti Sains Malaysia, agrees with the prime minister's view that the Pakatan Rakyat's 100-day reform plan was a populist and irresponsible one.
"They only know how to make promises, but even in the states they won (in the 2008 general election), many of the promises remain unfulfilled.
"So, the government needs to convince the people that the 100-day reform plan offered by the opposition is impractical and if it is implemented, it will only burden the people," he said.

tunku : opposition making promises is nothing new.everytime there is election around the corner they will make all sort of promises but without proper action plan.they should tell the people how they would make all those promises possible and from where the money will come to finance those ideas. there is no point for the moron anwar to debate with pm on this matter.he should instead explain to the people what and how it will work.the debate is just a political gimmick.last time we had seen his debate with shabery chik on petrol issue where he did not come out with action plan but only used the platform as his political tool.according to RAM Holdings Bhd's Group chief economist, Dr Yeah Kim Leng,proposals like abolishing the toll system basically transferred the huge financial burden to Khazanah National Bhd and Employees Provident Fund which would likely jeopardize the latter's ability to generate adequate dividends to its contributors' retirement savings.ultimately, the problem will end up in the government's hands and thereon passed to tax payers in the form of higher taxes. proposal to increase oil royalty payments, he said, it would require a corresponding reduction in federal spending or raising revenue from other sources, without which the government would have to resort to higher borrowings.they should tell details from where the fund will come to cover all these.they will have to reduce other budget and which ministry it involves.they should fulfilled their 2008 election promises first before making more lies to the public.