Pakatan Harapan reps must understand own manifesto in detail, says PM

SUBANG JAYA: Some Pakatan Harapan leaders and MPs do not understand their own manifesto thoroughly, says Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He was speaking after a retreat on Sunday (Oct 6) attended by Pakatan leaders and about 130 MPs from Pakatan and Parti Warisan Sabah.

The retreat was aimed at discussing the future of the parties and how parts of the manifesto were still difficult to achieve.

He said such a retreat was crucial as it enabled two-way dialogue between leaders and the grassroots through their MPs.

The media conference was also attended by Pakatan Presidental Council members including PKR President Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, DAP secretary-general Lim Gan Eng and Parti Amanah Nasional President Mohamad Sabu.

"The retreat was held to answer questions from MPs who are not clear of government policies.

"The MPs could also criticise these decisions and these criticisms would be taken into account by the leaders.

"At the same time, the leaders can explain to the people's representatives about the policies and other actions of the government.

"The Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 is a new policy that has to be understood by everyone. Elected representatives must be able to explain what it is to the rakyat," Dr Mahathir said.

He added that it was agreed at the retreat that many of the Pakatan MPs did not understand their own manifesto in detail.

"It was pointed out that many of us did not fully read our own manifesto. We never made any promise to abolish tolls, for example, but it was generally taken as part of the manifesto.

"Based on the manifesto, we have already achieved 60% of what we wanted to achieve," Dr Mahathir said.

The Prime Minister had, on Oct 4, said that Pakatan had become a victim of its own manifesto, which was curated to be difficult to achieve, to trap Barisan Nasional if the latter won the last general election.