GE13: Anwar was unable to tackle 1997 financial crisis, says Husni

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has come under fire for deceiving the people that the country's financial situation when he was the finance minister was at its peak.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said Anwar had failed to tackle the 1997 financial crisis when he was Finance Minister then.
Ahmad Husni said Anwar only brags about being finance minister when the economy was good, but when faced with an economic crisis, he simply did not know what to do.
He said the stability of the country's economy then was due to the conducive environment created by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had attracted investors into the country.
"Not having a formula on how to overcome the crisis, Anwar had basically cut the budget by 10% that caused the economy to shrink, increased the interest rates and reduce non-performing loans.
"We were lucky that Dr Mahathir intervened and sacked him from the government, sat with the right people, and came up with a new model of economy," he told reporters after launching a library named after him at Chemor town Saturday.
Ahmad Husni said the Opposition, especially Anwar had been basically creating hatred among the people towards the government by claiming all sorts of things including that the government of the day was corrupt.
He said under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak transparent governance had been created, among others having a tight open tender system in issuing projects.
"They (Opposition) don't want to recognise what Najib has done. Don't talk about the previous leaders, talk about the current leaders.
"When the global economy was down the country's economy growth was at 5.2%. Isn't this the testimony of his (Najib) ability as a leader," he added.
Ahmad Husni said after the 2008 general election, Pakatan had four states in their hands, but they had failed to introduce any new ideas or initiatives, but continued to follow the old policies introduced by Barisan, and rely on the federal Government to help the states financially.
"If they (Pakatan) claims to be so great, they should have spectacular transformation programmes that will shake the nation.
"Wouldn't that be a golden chance for them to prove that they can govern the country," he added.