Populist manifesto will burden people financially

KUALA LUMPUR: A manifesto that is full of populist promises such as free toll, free education and lower petrol prices will lead to tax increase, reducing subsidies and issuing government bonds, said a Japan-based Malaysian academician.

Shobi University Associate Professor Chong Fatt Seng said the manifesto with such promises would only burden people financially as it was not supported by a strong strategic policy on how to generate money and revenue for the country.

“It will be dangerous for Malaysians to choose a government by not thinking carefully and merely accepting the smaller aspects of the manifesto, and get convinced that populist promises will raise their quality of life.

“Malaysians should look at the wider perspectives of government policies before deciding on their next government.

“Rather than following their emotions, they need to focus on what the government has done like implementing sound economic policies and the transformation programmes,” Chong told Bernama after being interviewed on Bernama’s Radio24 at Wisma Bernama, here, Monday night.

Chong, who has been residing in Japan for 21 years, commented that there was no policy more superior than the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) as the programme aimed to increase people’s income and boost the country’s economy.

“The consistent and well-planned ETP by the government has and will lead the country to achieving higher gross domestic product (GDP) at five to six per cent.

“This will help Malaysia’s economic growth, achieve its Vision 2020 and its strategic plan to turn itself into a high-income nation,” he noted.

Sharing Japan’s three years and three months’ experience under the opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Chong said populist promises of free tolls had led to poor maintenance of highways, high traffic volumes and increase in accidents in Japan.

“When the Japanese demanded DPJ to fulfil its manifesto promises, the citizens were asked to wait for a few years before it could implement the promises.

“This shows that a manifesto is a good tool for politicians to convince the people. But it is not easy to fulfil as people’s expectations are high and would not believe promises easily,” he said.