The Malaysian Insight

JOHOR folk should not allow themselves to be deceived by former prime minister Najib Razak’s Malu Apa Bossku campaign, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said.

“DAP appeals to 2.6 million Johor voters not to let Najib hijack the state elections with his Malu Apa Bossku campaign, which overshadows the need for the next Johor government to make people’s lives better by addressing (problems with) the cost of living, new taxes, increased compound fines for breaching Covid-19 SOPs and livelihood issues,” he said in a statement. 

“Najib’s personal campaign is tinged with self-interest to ride on the expected BN victory as political fodder to save himself from his involvement in the RM52 billion 1MDB scandal,” Lim said.

He added that, despite Najib’s corruption conviction and irrefutable evidence globally that hundreds of millions of ringgit were channelled into his personal account, the Pekan MP continues to live in a bubble with BN as if he is innocent and free of scandal.

Lim said the interests and livelihood of 2.6 million voters are more important than the fate of one person.

“For this reason, Johor’s 2.6 million voters must come out in large numbers to vote on March 12 to ensure that their concerns about livelihood and cost of living must be addressed,” Lim said. 

According to the Bagan MP, despite inflation and rising prices – exacerbated further by the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushing oil prices past US$110 per barrel – the government had yet to establish a price stabilisation fund.

“What is the point of political stability if there is no price stability? To check rising prices, DAP has proposed a price stabilisation fund with an initial seed of RM3 billion derived from the prosperity tax or windfall tax introduced this year.

“In response, the government replied in Parliament that it is still studying our proposal,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lim repeated his argument that the government allow further Employees Provident Fund withdrawals, saying that many people still cannot make ends meet.

He said the government should allow at least a further RM5,000 withdrawal to cover the rising cost of living. 

As of October last year, some 7.4 million EPF contributors withdrew RM101 billion from EPF through Covid-19 related relief schemes.

According to EPF, 73% of contributors will not have enough savings on which to retire, with efforts to help contributors replenish their funds will take place in the future. – March 10, 2022.