I would like to wish all Malaysians a very Happy New Year.
2019 was a challenging year for our country on many fronts. While Pakatan Harapan was able to bring about a number of remarkable achievements—including pro-rakyat economic policies, continued institutional reform and reducing the voting age to 18—the fact is that we ought to have done a better job especially in economic reforms.
Clearly, more work needs to be done in terms of not only creating more jobs and bringing the cost of living under control, but also future-proofing our economy, to ensure that our workers will be able to compete in the face of rapid technological change.
Urgent efforts must also be undertaken to reduce the growing inequality in our society, that is now, worryingly, manifesting itself within, as well as between, the different ethnic groups.
Doing this will undoubtedly blunt the rise of extreme identity politics of race and religion that we are unfortunately witnessing on our shores, as in a few countries throughout the world.
The fact is that Malaysia cannot be peaceful and progressive without socio-economic justice.
The iconic year of 2020 must hence be a year of reform for the rakyat.
Pakatan Harapan must continue the process of institutional reform and super-charge the modernisation of our economy.
We were greeted in the the New Year with the resignation of YB Dr Maszlee Malik as the Minister of Education.
I thank Dr Maszlee for his service to the nation. I am sure he will continue to serve his constituents in Simpang Renggam as well as the people of Malaysia generally.
The portfolio is not an easy one and while we differed on a few issues, the fact remains that Dr Maszlee was able to achieve concrete things despite a number of difficulties.
Like it or not, Pakatan Harapan must up its efforts to effectively communicate its agenda to ordinary Malaysians, as well as empowering them in government.
Moreover, we need to redouble our efforts to deliver on the pledges of our manifesto.
Among the things that the rakyat is demanding certainty is the transition as promised by the Pakatan Harapan
Consensus announced on 6 January 2018.
The Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council must clearly commit to a May 2020 transition from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the Seventh Prime Minister to Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the Eighth Prime Minister as announced earlier.
This is something that needs to be done for the sake of our country. Whether it is my constituents that I meet in the market, civil servants in Putrajaya or the business community – they want a clear answer on this matter.
NIK NAZMI NIK AHMAD
KEADILAN Chief Organising Secretary
KEADILAN Central Leadership Council Member
Setiawangsa Member of Parliament
