KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 18): Newly-elected Port Dickson MP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat president-elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the presentation of the Mid-term Review of the 11th Malaysia Plan reflects the new Government's commitment towards keeping its promises of reforms to the people.

“Objectively, I wish to say that from Pakatan Harapan's perspective, the presentation was the smartest statement [yet] in our reformation movement, which reflected Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his government’s commitment towards keeping their promises to the people on thorough reforms from judicial system to civil services,” he told reporters after the tabling of the review report at the Parliament lobby today.

Anwar also said the Government’s commitment to fight corruption has been long awaited by Malaysians.

Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali concurred, saying that ensuring good governance should be a significant priority for the new Government.

“Amongst the important pillars under the Mid-term Review of the 11th Malaysia Plan is to ensure good governance because by doing so we can give foreign investors confidence to reinvest in Malaysia, generating economic growth, before we can talk about fair distribution of wealth,” he told reporters.

“Another thing that is interesting in the review is the guarantee of fair and reasonable development to States in the East Coast and East Malaysia. This reflects that although some of these States are not administered by Pakatan Harapan, we still hold on to the principle that development will be done fairly, none of them will be left out,” he added.

Azmin said the plans included in the review are not ambitious, and will be achievable within the given period.

“I don’t think the plan is over ambitious, we have consulted all the Ministers, and deliberated the proposals in the Cabinet. We got the consent from the Prime Minister and all the relevant authorities. I believe with a clear mandate given by the Cabinet, all the Ministers and Ministries will be able to conduct and complete their tasks within the stipulated time frame,” he said.

Asked if there were concerns that the market would react negatively to the announcement that the fiscal deficit would be temporarily beyond target, Azmin said regardless of the response, the government must be honest with its people. 

“We are here to give our commitment to ensure that the economy will continue to grow. Certainly some measures need to be taken, we have to tighten our spending, but certainly not at the expense of our growth. So these are the measures we want to embark on for the next two years,” he added.