PAKATAN Harapan should go back to the spirit of its election manifesto, the Buku Harapan (Book of Hope), as not much have been done to help society, especially the lower income, to move forward, said Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

“When we talk about Buku Harapan, I know it’s very controversial. I think what is important for the government to do is to go back to the spirit of Buku Harapan,” he said at a forum organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas).

“There may be pledges in the Buku Harapan which are not doable and I’m realistic enough in that but I think that the government has not been committed enough in terms of bringing up the Bottom 40,  in terms of helping the society to move forward. I think those things have not been given enough focus,” said the PKR central leadership council member.

The government should also move towards needs-based policies by doing away with race-based ones, he said.

Needs-based policies won’t only benefit the Malays, who are in the lower-income brackets, but also the Bumiputeras and non-Bumiputeras who don’t earn a high income.

Nik Nazmi said there are areas which the New Economic Policy has done right, however, it’s now a victim of its own success.

“The NEP has its successes… it has created the Malay middle class and all that but as a result, it became a victim of its own success because the policy was designed for a race-based approach.”

He said such a transition will take time as many in the government are also not convinced.

Ideas research director, Laurence Todd, said there are about 145 promises from the election manifesto have yet to be fulfilled.

He said the election promises will have to be fulfilled first before the government can move on towards implementing the Shared Prosperity vision.

Additionally, the government has limited fiscal space to manoeuvre given the high national debt to the tune of RM1 trillion and a narrow revenue base. – September 19, 2019.