THE Pakatan Harapan government needs to concentrate on delivering its promises to the people who voted them in during the 14th general election and forget what happened in the past, says Council of Eminent Persons chairman Daim Zainuddin.

He said the new administration should stop pointing fingers at the previous government.

“Six months is enough. Now the government needs to concentrate on delivering. People know what happened and that’s why they voted the previous government out.

“It’s important for them not to repeat the same mistakes,” he told reporters at the Affin Hwang Capital Conference Series 2018 in Kuala Lumpur today.

Daim said the government should work towards restoring confidence among investors in order to attract them back to the country.

He said May 9 presented Malaysia with a golden opportunity where everybody had fought hand-in-hand against kleptocracy and for freedom of speech, justice for all, transparency, and accountability.

“In the last six months, the government has made itself clear on what needs to be done. It has started to take many steps, some big and some baby steps, and yet our destination is still far away,” he said.

Daim urged Malaysians to give some time to the government led by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his cabinet, who are working hard to reform the economy, which he said is the most important thing to do right now.

“People are impatient. They voted for change and want to see results immediately. Promises were made, but when the PH government took over, it suddenly found that the treasury was empty.

“How are they going to fulfil the promises? It will take time,” he said.

The Kedah-born businessman, politician, and former finance minister, who retired 20 years ago, said that he was glad he is retired.

On November 2, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng tabled Budget 2019 with an allocation of RM314.5 billion, an increase of RM24.1 billion over the RM290.4 billion in Budget 2018.

Daim said that capital control may not work for Malaysia now as market conditions have changed, compared with the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.

“The same policy will not work today. My advice to the government is to not implement capital controls now,” he said. – Bernama, November 8, 2018.