Press Release by Agora Society in Kuala Lumpur on 20 April 2018
The newly released Barisan Nasional Manifesto for the 14th general election on 7 April 2018 is a great disappointment for Malaysians. As this election is supposed to be a close contest between the ruling and the opposition parties since independence, the reluctance of BN to directly tackle political and social turmoil plaguing the country suggests that BN is either incapable of overcoming these problems or there are benefits to be gained from perpetuating these problems.
The BN manifesto promises Malaysians status quo, as it offers very little significant improvement in governance. Instead it is embellished with distracting election goodies. This raise the questions about effectiveness of the government transformation programmes and economic transformation programmes that have cost Malaysian tax payers millions of ringgits. Have these programmes failed to deliver what they were designed to do? Where will TN50 actually lead the country, with policies which do not deliver results?
