Pakatan’s manifesto : DAP displays its ignorance

As Pakatan leaders rush to deflect serious criticisms of its recently-released election manifesto, two matters stand out in comic relief. What are they?

Before that, let's look at  some recent events:

One blogger had criticised the manifesto, describing it as being full of old news, anti growth, anti jobs, and containing a host of costly promises that "come with a few details".

"The document is dripping with vote-buying populism at the expense of economic responsibility. It includes a rehash of old pledges to reduce car prices, scrap toll payments and provide free education – all ideas that were espoused last year and some of which also got a second airing in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's widely derided Budget 2011″, the blogger added.

The knee-jerk response to these criticisms came from DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng who said the manifesto only sets out the common policies of component parties in Pakatan.

Pakatan can't put in the details, otherwise it will be too thick and people will not be interested in reading it, he told a press conference yesterday.

Really, Mr Lim?  You can't be serious. When was the last time that you read the manifesto in which you surely must have had a hand?  Please allow me to show you the fine print in the manifesto.

The manifesto DOES go into the details, even into the micro-details. To quote one example, the manifesto makes a mention of 1,854 sekolah janaan rakyat.  Please note, the text does not say 1,853 or 1,855.  It says precisely 1,854.  Can you get more detailed than that?

Other examples of specific figures in the manifesto include the following:

- RM10 to RM 100 levy on husbands
- RM1,000 bonus to senior citizens
- 141,000 hectares of land for Orang Asli
- 852 settlements to get water supply
- 5,000 educational scholarships to be awarded

You cant get more specific than this. It is not hard to guess why your manifesto went into these details. You did so because these promises were a rehash of an old song, and also these promises are easily quantifiable.

So, that's one issue that stands out in comic relief. What's the other?

The other is simply this:  when your promises are vague and illusionary, you are unable to give specifics.

You must have heard the saying, the devil is in the details. This saying is often used to underscore the important role played by small things in big plans or grandiouse projects. If these small things are ignored, they could cause serious problems later on.

So, you become vague and get all fuzzy when it comes to dubious policies which have little or no chance of implementation.

A policy can only be credible if there are practical ways in which they can be implemented.

For example, if you say you wish to build a road from George Town to Timbuktu  you need to know the details, at  least at a theoretical level.   You need to know how many kilometres of road and undersea tunnels you have to build.  Then you need to know the cost of building materials and how to hedge against future price increases, and you need to know how much human resources will be required.  More importantly, you have to know if you really need a super highway  that camels can use to bring sand and salt from the ancient Mali city to Malaysia.

Facetiousness aside, a manifesto that is short on fundamental details offers no real  solutions. Only comic relief.

Das Gupta
The Malaysian Review
-Via Email-

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