Muhyiddin: Difference between Barisan and Perikatan like 'night and day'

SERDANG: Although Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional have a similar name, the difference between us is night and day, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The Perikatan chairman said one example was through a recently viral video of Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's speech at its Selangor convention.

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“He told the Finance Minister not to take advantage but take what you can, and this was greeted with laughter by the audience as if they understood what he was saying," said Muhyiddin.

“The difference between us and them was that I instructed the Finance Minister to source for money to help the needy whereas the Barisan chairman asked him to take what was there for their own use," he added.

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Muhyiddin then said that he hopes voters will not choose wrongly during the 15th General Election (GE15).

"Choose Perikatan and not Barisan,” he said during the opening speech of the Perikatan convention on Saturday (August 27).

Muhyiddin said when he was prime minister, the Perikatan government’s focus was only to help the rakyat go through the difficult tribulations of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I gave two important standing instructions to my Cabinet ministers. One was to Khairy Jamaluddin who was the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister at the time to buy as many vaccines as we can for the national Covid-19 immunisation programme," he said.

“As a result, nearly 100% of the adult population in Malaysia is fully vaccinated, cases have gone down drastically and we are now able to live normally," added Muhyiddin.

He said the other standing instruction was for the Finance Minister to find funds to provide aid to the rakyat in difficult times.

“We gave out about RM530bil and this is the biggest assistance package for the people in the country’s history,” said Muhyiddin.

Also present at the convention were leaders from Perikatan component parties Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Gerakan, PAS, Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Sabah STAR) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).