Pakatan shares Barisan's capitalist traits but shows more promise, says PSM's Jeyakumar

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat (PR) works under the same capitalist framework as Barisan Nasional (BN) but shows better promise, says Parti Sosialis Malaysia central committee member and Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar.

He said that both coalitions measure the success of the country by factors such as the economic growth, the amount of foreign investors brought into the country and the amount of capitalist businesses.

"In that aspect, Pakatan is not socialist. This is where we (PSM) comes in, to give a different point of view," he said at a PSM fund-raiser on Saturday night.

He added that capitalist economies must grow or they will go into recession. When the economy grows, more of nature's resources are used.

"At one point capitalism was a revolutionary force which brought many positive changes but now it has come to a point that it has become toxic," he said.

However, Dr Jeyakumar conceded that in politics, it is important to be realistic.

"PSM is a small party. We need to work with others to send our message across. If we need to lose some seats in order to do that, so be it," he said.

Dr Jayakumar said that with Pakatan, he sees better governance, the desire for less corruption and racism, more freedom of information and other changes.

"For this reason, we will continue to support them," he said.