CYBERJAYA: The government wants to do many things but financial constraints have been a stumbling block preventing Pakatan Harapan (PH) from fulfilling its 14th general election (GE14) promises.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the government was facing many problems because of the financial constraints.
“Believe me, we don’t have the money. The money has been stolen, which is our main concern. We want to do various things, but the money is not there,” he told reporters after launching a local rail engineering innovation exhibition and technology showcase — Technomart.
Also present was Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (Might) president and chief executive officer and Malaysia Rail Industry Corporation (Maric) president Datuk Dr Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman.
Dr Mahathir had been asked to comment on recent reports quoting Council of Eminent Persons chairman Tun Daim Zainuddin as saying the PH government was expected to deliver promises that it made in GE14 in six months.
Daim had said that he expected the people to return to supporting the government once it delivered its promises, especially by paying more attention to the economy.
On PH’s defeat in the recent Rantau by-election, Dr Mahathir said the outcome did not change the government.
He said sometimes the government parties contesting in the by-election would lose because of any number of reasons.
“Whatever happens, whether the PH parties win or lose, the government remains the same and it is still Pakatan Harapan.”
In the recently concluded Rantau by-election, Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan obtained 10,397 votes, defeating PH’s Dr S. Streram by a 4,510-vote majority.