PARTI Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president and prime-minister-in-waiting Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said that the economy will be his top priority when he is appointed as PM.
He was speaking yesterday (Feb 20) at a symposium organised by HELP University where he delivered a speech entitled Construct of a Nation: As I See It.
“Malaysia’s economy has been stagnant for the last 10 years and I will make the economy the focus of attention during my tenureship as PM,” said Anwar.
He said the people were suffering and bread-and-butter issues were foremost on the minds of the rakyat currently.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had pledged on numerous occasions that he will handle the mantle of power to Anwar after the APEC meeting which is scheduled for November.
Anwar also said poverty was a serious matter although the government’s official poverty figure was 0.4%. He said the United Nations and the other international agencies had estimated that 20% of the population was living in abject poverty.
Anwar reiterated his commitment that affirmative action was still needed but it has to be changed from a race-based approach to a needs-based one.
“For me, a Malay child is my child, a Chinese child is my child, Indian, Kadazan and Iban children are all my children and I will see to that during my tenure as PM nobody is alienated,” he said. – Feb 21. 2020
