LANGKAWI (May 8): A victory for Pakatan Harapan in tomorrow's general election will see the new government giving priority to managing the economy properly and taking Malaysia to greater heights, said former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.

"We will bring our experts to advise us. We have enough good and honest men who are prepared to come back to advise the government on how to run the economy," said Daim.

"We will make sure that this time we really take Malaysia to greater heights, not the way BN is doing," he told a press conference here today while campaigning for Pakatan.

He said there must be a reason why the caretaker government is not disclosing the financial accounts in relation to several major public projects.

Referring to the government's decision to grant exemption from the goods and services tax (GST) for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, he asked why a similar exemption is not given to schools and hospitals.

"Why give exemption to a foreign government? A lot of money has disappeared including 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd), Felda (Federal Land Development Authority), Mara (Majlis Amanah Rakyat) and Lembaga Tabung Haji," he said.

Asked if Pakatan's plan to abolish the GST will result in the fiscal deficit going up, a reduction in development expenditure, higher income tax and the introduction of new taxes such as capital gains tax, Daim replied that the country's economy sustained without GST for 57 years.

Yesterday, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar said the abolishment of GST would result in the scrapping or suspension of development projects.

Khazanah Nasional Bhd board member Tan Sri Andrew Sheng, meanwhile, said Pakatan's proposal to stop toll collections and reintroduce fuel subsidies would affect the economy.

Responding to this, Daim said economic growth that is based on borrowing would not last and will cause increased borrowing and guarantees that would cause the public to bear the burden.

"These people (Wahid and Sheng) are paid employees of the institutions. They should just stick to PNB and Khazanah, get their salary and leave the economy to the new government to run it as we have far better experts. Wahid and Sheng are trained by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

"What is important is planning the economy, and not make the people suffer," he added.