GE 13 : Who is Best Positioned to Provide a Sustainable Social Safety Net?

The rich banker, driving his Porsche into Kuala Lumpur's Pavilion Shopping Mall to pick up a few designer T-shirts at RM400 each, would almost certainly like you all to vote Pakatan Rakyat.
That's because only with a Pakatan Government will he be guaranteed to benefit from Anwar's "safety net" with its important measures such as free health care, abolished road tolls and, of course, cheaper petrol. This is essential for the thousands of litres of fuel the high-performance Porsche chugs through each year.
It's true. The rich would do very well from Anwar arriving in Seri Perdana because, having read Pakatan's manifesto, they will note that Pakatan's so-called safety net contains general measures that are not means tested, meaning our millionaires benefit as much, if not more, from a 40 sen a litre petrol price cut than a rubber tapper riding a scooter.
Likewise with Pakatan's free education promise. Apart from the fact that free university education is proven to lead to lower academic standards, elsewhere in the world it has been found that better-off families use it to their best advantage, taking six years to complete a three-year course while poorer students finish up on time and get a job.
The problem is that Pakatan Rakyat has proposed an across-the-board safety net that sets out to catch those who aren't falling; and this is grossly unfair because not only does it divert funds away from those in need, but it is set to cost the economy a fortune.
During the tenure of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, every single social measure he has presided over has been based on need. It sounds logical doesn't it? BR1M is for those earning less than RM3,000 per month and has proven so successful, it is set to become permanent.
1Malaysia Clinics are a better way of getting medical care to the needy than Pakatan's proposed grand gesture on healthcare. And what of 1Malaysia shops (KR1M)? They are derided by the Opposition but sell life's essential items to Malaysia's very poorest at 85 locations nationwide. In light of Pakatan's opposition to KR1M, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has challenged them to say whether it would close the stores if elected. So far, no response.
The safety net proposed by both sides gives us a valuable insight into their overriding political ideologies. BN wants to reward hard work and innovation but also ensures those who are truly struggling are not left behind. It's also known as fairness.
Pakatan's package takes us to a socialist worker's paradise of "benefits for all". Their manifesto, says head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) Wan Saiful Wan Jan, is a welfare state document that will "catapult us firmly to the left".
One more point needs to be made about the safety net that is already at work under BN. While Pakatan bleats ceaselessly about moving away from race-based policies, Najib's welfare initiatives are doing just that. Every single measure under the 1Malaysia banner pays no consideration to race.
While Pakatan has been talking the talk, Najib has been walking the walk.