SHAH ALAM - Umno veteran suggests eight realistic manifesto that needs to be offered by Barisan Nasional (BN) in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15).
Its Secretary-General Mustapha Yaakub said the eight matters were to correct the country's economy, create job opportunities for youth, prepare affordable housing and prepare permanent aid for farmers, fishermen and rubber tappers.
Other than that, there was the issue of settlers that still could not own land grants, preparation of special help for senior citizens that were expected to rise, prepare a platform that was sufficient for religious education and creation of special laws to stop religious extremists or individuals who insult religion.
"The manifesto represented an important matter that needs to be given attention by BN if it wants to win GE15 and its focus on issues with the youth.
"We are well informed that the election now is challenging because data shows many youth voters in the elections now and if we (BN) failed to prepare what the people especially the youth wanted, there would be worries that the votes would be pulled back.
"However, the priority was the need to ensure each promise or manifesto offered were realistic in nature and what was implemented could be accepted wholeheartedly by the people," he told Sinar Harian.
He said such after being asked to comment regarding the suggestions that BN needed to offer for the upcoming GE15.
Mustapha had stated BN needed to avoid offering a populist manifesto to buy off the people.
"We (BN) shouldn't offer a manifesto that went to 'the moon and stars' that was known to be difficult in implementing but was done for the votes of the people supporting us," he said.
The issue regarding the manifesto represented the few matters that were strengthened at the time following the upcoming GE15.
Meanwhile, Sin Chew Daily reported DAP Central Committee Member Chan Foong Hin said the party had done some changes to produce the new manifesto and ensured that it was different from before.
He said the transformation was important to cover the flaws in previous manifesto and ensure it was comprehensive.
"DAP at the time identifies around 30 issues and challenges faced at the time as well as the future.
"The approach would be organised according to the issues and we as well as the people need to be pragmatic in governing the country," he said on Monday.
The Kota Kinabalu MP admitted that DAP was too idealistic and were less experienced when they created the previous manifesto.
"It can't be said that we released empty promises, we were just too idealistic and many statistics could not be accurate," he said.