Pakatan Rakyat has pledged to bring sweeping economic reforms to the country by decentralising economic management of the country’s 13 states.
This was among one of the key points to be presented in the Pakatan Rakyat common policy platform which will be unveiled at the coalition’s inaugural annual national convention on Saturday (December 19, 2009).
Offering a peep into the document, which has been kept tightly under wraps, drafting committee coordinator Saifuddin Nasution (left) said the coalition aims to empower the states to handle their own economy.
” The current framework provides for everything to be planned by the federal government and imposed on the state. We prefer to engage the states,” said Saifuddin when contacted.
This policy is likely to appeal to resource-rich but economically backward states, who can reap greater benefits of having more autonomy.
True Spirit of Federalism
Saifuddin points out that currently, the federal government does not extend full cooperation with four Pakatan-controlled states. “We can feel that the spirit of Federalism is not being honoured. The very reason why we included it as one of the points in the common policy platform,” he added.
At a macro level, the Penang and Selangor governments have both complained that the Budget 2010 allocations saw the two states being allocated only a tiny fraction of tax revenues collected in the states.
The impoverished Kelantan is still trying to compel the federal government into honouring a 1974 agreement to pay oil royalties to the state government.
At the lower level, some UMNO Cabinet ministers have also urged government agencies not to attend state-government functions, activities or meetings as in the case of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Mohd Noh Omar.
Three equal partners?
Meanwhile, Saifuddin said the common policy platform would state the coalition’s position on upholding democracy, spurring the economy, social justice, human justice, needs-based affirmative action and foreign policy.
He said the Pakatan supreme council had endorsed the common policy platform yesterday and promised that the document would be a highly comprehensive alternative to current government policies.
“I’m just doing some a bit of final editing and we will be sending it to the printers today,” he said.
The document will be distributed to 1,500 delegates – 500 from each of the three parties – during the convention that will take place at the Shah Alam City Council auditorium.
Unlike other political parties which revolve around one central figure, all top leaders from the three component parties would be addressing the gathering.
PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim (above) is scheduled to deliver the first speech, followed by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang respectively. The order of speakers also reflects the descending order of seats held by the three parties.
A total of 15 delegates – five from each party – are scheduled to debate the common policy platform before the winding up speeches by the three leaders.
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