LAST night, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan accused the former Pakatan Harapan Government of slashing funds regardless of the people’s needs, which was causing instability in the country.
“When we, Bersatu, were part of Pakatan, when the rakyat needed help and were asking for help, we saw how their agenda was just to cut here, cut there.
“Reduce this aid, cut that aid, get rid of this aid. Instead, they gave out an RM30 cash aid. RM30 aid? How will anyone survive? That amount will finish after one or two meals,” Malaysiakini reported him as saying.
The Bersatu leader then accused the DAP and PKR of being socialist parties and were going against the very ideals of Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Irate by his claims, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh took to social media to lash out at Wan Saiful for spreading lies about his former allies.
“Harapan rolled out RM10mil in 2019 for childcare grant and tripled it to RM30 million in 2020. We also allocated millions for i-suri benefitting thousands of women. @wansaiful look at Bersatu’s records of betraying partners and zip up! @drwanazizah,” she said.
The DAP leader added that it was the Perikatan Nasional Government which had failed to utilise the grants provided to support childcare programmes later on.
“Perikatan Nasional on the other hand failed to utilise RM30million childcare grant allocated to help young families post Sheraton Move in year 2020 and repeated its failure in year 2021. Talks big but 0 results.”
Panned by allies and foes alike
It is to note that during Pakatan’s administration, then-deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was in charge of the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, with Yeoh as her deputy.
After the fall of Pakatan, Datuk Seri Rina Harun of Bersatu took charge of the portfolio, with PAS’ Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff as her deputy.
This is not the first time Wan Saiful had angered his former allies as yesterday, he was berated by former UMNO secretary general Tan Sri Annuar Musa for going overboard on his criticism against his party.
“I noticed Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan is attacking us incessantly as the Johor state election nears. I advise him to focus on strengthening his own party first instead of criticising UMNO.
“UMNO has its own strategy. Our party has a long history and credentials. We are not a newbie and definitely not a splinter group,” the minister was reported as saying. – Feb 7, 2022.
