Rafizi Ramli: Unity Manifesto Retweeking In Progress, Time Is Of Essence!

The 2023 budget was tabled last October right before the cabinet was dissolved leading to the 15th General Election which we had last month. There were many issues related to the automotive industry that were tabled which was basically left in a limbo followed by each opposing party tabling their own manifestors to the public should they come into power. Well with the formation of the unified government due to no simple majority attained by any party, these manifestos too are basically left in a limbo.

However, yesterday after the second Dewan Rakyat Parliamentary session the newly appointed Economy Minister, Radizi Ramli shed some light on this matter where he pledged to retweek the manifestors to reflect the Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional coalition (unity) government in power now.

As reported by The Star, Rafizi Ramli says that at Cabinet level, there is already a government committee working to choose and combine specific programmes from each coalition's manifesto set-up and led by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Zuki Ali.

He went on to explain that although both parties have differing manifestos, as a coalition they would now need to speed up the combination of both agendas as time is of a constraint. He added further that the entire process of choosing the agendas to keep will be guided by the 18 commitments under Clause 2 of the agreement signed by party leaders of the unity government last Friday, 16 December.

As of now, there is no indication or decisions made on which pledges would be carried forward. The coalition government in office now is a combination of Pakatan Harapan (81 seats), Barisan Nasional (30 seats), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (23 seats), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (6 seats), Warisan (3 seats), Parti Bangsa Malaysia, Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Malaysia and Muda (2 seat each) and 2 Independent parties.

When questioned with regards to the proposed budget allocation on manifesto agendas decided to be carried forward, Rafizi commented that that is not in his jurisdiction and he would not cross into other ministerial boundaries. All budget and financial matters are under the purview of Prime Minister and acting Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Now, as of now it's up to everyone to guess on what agendas on both manifestors would be carried forward or any new ones conjured up to please both sides, however lets just recap both their automotive related manifestors briefly so we know what is carried forward when it's finalised. 

Pakatan Harapan

1. To "review highway concessions." as part of its plans to tackle rising cost of living.

2. Free public transportation rides to seniors, an improvement on the current policy of a 50% discount.

3. To increase the coverage of public transportation to ensure that the rakyat's welfare is taken care of.

4. To equip 80% of metropolitan areas with bus stops and train stations, and that the wait time for any public transportation service, particularly buses, shall not exceed 10 minutes. 

5. To provide 10,000 buses for cities across Malaysia, with 7,000 of them operating in the Klang Valley.

6. To regulate and legalise "micro mobility" devices like e-scooters and e-bikes for first and last mile connections.

7. To broaden public transportation payment methods to include debit cards and e-wallets, as opposed to the current system, which only accepts Touch 'n Go cards.

Barisan Nasional

1. To abolish the approved permit (AP) for all imported electric vehicles (EV).

2. To set-up more Drag Racing circuits nationwide 

3. To assist the disable (OKU) with financial aid so that e-hailing would be accessible to them as a mode of travelling. 

4. To transform all government and public transport vehicles to EV by 2030.