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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Election uncertainty: Billions lost


Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir says over the past year, the country has lost out on billions ringgit worth of investment and people-oriented projects because of polls uncertainty.
PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s delay in announcing the general election has frightened off investors, distracted leaders from public service, and lost the country revenue worth billions in ringgit, a former Umno veteran has said.
Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, who quit Umno in 2012 after being a member of the party for 56 years, told FMT in an exclusive interview that Najib was making a big mistake in not declaring the polls date in the last year and a half.
“Because of this uncertainty created, for the last one year… I heard a lot of investors who wanted to come to the country started postponing things until they are sure of the election results,” said Abdul Kadir, who is also executive chairman of property development group Sazean Holdings Sdn Bhd.
“Billions and billions of investments that could have come into the economy was held back because of the uncertainty created.”
The Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) founder said that in addition to declining investments, the rakyat were also losing out on government projects because of the uncertainty.
“The politicians… have been doing nothing but politicking for the last one year or so and government’s money is being spent not on… projects which are really a priority, for the benefit of the people, but on projects that benefit them politically. Political projects, so to say,” said Abdul Kadir.
The political veteran, who contested and won in elections from 1978, 1982, 1986 and 2004 for the Kulim-Bandar Baharu seat, noted that this was the longest yet period of uncertainty prior to a general election.
“I think it is very sad, I think the country has lost a lot because of this uncertainty created by the postponement of the election.
“So I think Najib might as well use this opportunity, since we are coming to the end of the parliament’s term on April 28, he might as well… let it be dissolved by itself on April 28 and have elections in two weeks or so.
Introduce fixed terms
Abdul Kadir also stressed that Najib should take advantage of his “political transformation programme” to change the laws and allow for a fixed-term government to avoid future delays and uncertainty in the polls date.
“Every five years, go for elections, so every government elected is sure it has five years. But of course, give some flexibility, choose the right date, say, for example, three months before the end of that five [year] term,” he suggested.
“So there is certainty there… so every party can really know that the elections are going to be within this [certain] period, and they can make all their preparations, including the government.”
He added that it was “unwise” for the government to be allowed to call for elections any time it wished as this would not benefit the rakyat, the country, nor its economy.
“As you can see, everybody is politicking day and night, nothing else. No one is concentrating on how to develop the country and economy. Even though we have Lahad Datu… our mind is still on the elections,” he said, referring to the armed incursion in Sabah by the Royal Sulu Sultanate Army.

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