KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional’s general election manifesto unveiled by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak Saturday night contains 341 initiatives divided into 14 thrusts.
Following are the 14 thrusts are some of the key initiatives:
1. Mothers and women first
*Facilitating the process for single women in securing loans by permitting the combination of incomes with siblings or parents who fulfil eligibility requirements.
* Encouraging women to generate secondary incomes by easing microcredit loan requirements for women entrepreneurs who conduct businesses part-time.
* Encouraging the private sector to allow pregnant mothers to leave work an hour early.
* Extending the duration of tax incentives to 24 months for women who return to the job market.
* Adapting the flexible work hour scheme for mothers with children aged 2 and below.
* Providing incentives to companies that provide childcare centres and facilities for breastfeeding mothers.
* Allocating 7 days of special leave per year for women who are caregivers to their children or immediate relatives who are ill.
* Establishing one-stop centres that include childcare centres and entrepreneur centres for Felda settlers, in all Felda settlements, that is administered by the Confederation of Women Felda Settlers Malaysia.
2. A home for everyone
* Granting tax exemptions on housing rental income.
* Establishing a special bank to facilitate loans for affordable and low-cost housing priced RM300,000 and below.
* Providing tax incentives or development funds to encourage banks and housing developers to offer rent-to-own schemes.
* Introducing a single entity to synchronise all affordable housing initiatives, including the monitoring of construction work.
* Providing a Public Housing Assistance Scheme to assist renters who may be categorised as poor or Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
* Upgrading long-houses in Sarawak, water-houses in Sabah, Orang Asli houses and estate workers housing units in the Peninsula.
* Ending the policy of Bumiputera lot discounts for property valued at RM1mil and above.
3. Three million jobs
* Speeding up the development of the Malaysian Vision Valley, a 150,000 hectare area that is projected to create 1.3 million job opportunities.
4. More smiles in Sabah and Sarawak
* Improving the quality of telecommunications coverage across Sabah and Sarawak with an allocation of RM2 billion.
* The rights of Sabah and Sarawak under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 will be realised by consensus.
5. Futuristic Transportation
* Introducing the TN50 Public Transport Pass (costing between RM50 – RM150) that gives unlimited monthly access to public transport for students, working youths, senior citizens and the disabled.
* Building an electrified railway line from Subang Jaya to the Subang Skypark Terminal as part of the integration of railway transportation.
* Adding more streetlights in Felda settlement areas.
* Upgrading 419 kilometres of sewerage pipelines in Felda areas.
6. Digital empowerment
* Reducing the cost of employing foreign domestic workers by introducing an Online Domestic Helper System.
7. Made in Malaysia
* Continuing efforts to develop the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector to assist Chinese entrepreneurs by strengthening the role and function of the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs (SAME).
* Supporting food truck businesses by creating special areas for them to do business and instituting programmes for vehicle modification.
* Enhancing the contribution of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to the national economy through digital transformation by providing grants and credit guarantee opportunities to expand access to new international markets.
8. A newer BR1M
* Providing a one-off assistance of RM1,500 for the children of BR1M recipients that enrol in higher education institutes.
9. Rakyat’s economy
* Raising the minimum wage in phases to at least RM1,500 within five years.
* Providing a special incentive of RM5,000 to every Felda settler.
* Enhancing the well-being of employees of Government-Linked Companies and Government-Linked Investment Companies who earn RM2,500 and below through expanded insurance coverage, increased healthcare benefits and increased cost of living allowance.
* Creating a special grant for replantation worth up to RM7,500 per hectare for each qualified Felda settler in the next 5 years starting 2018. This grant is to reduce up to 70% replantation debt of Felda settlers.
* Writing-off the Felda settlers’ debt from the purchase of FGV shares.
* Allocating a special fund worth up to RM300 million to write-off extraordinary or extreme debt of all qualified Felda settlers for the next 5 years starting in 2018.
* Intensifying Felda 2.0 initiative via 15 plans for 2018 and 2019 with an allocation of RM300 million to create a smart community and sustainable local economy. This initiative will be continued to all Rancangan Felda nationwide and will benefit settlers and second generations residing in Rancangan Felda.
* Minimising the involvement of middlemen in agricultural and fishery products in order to reduce the prices of basic food items and increase the incomes of farmers and
fishermen.
* Expanding the funds for the Agricultural Assistance Scheme and replanting of palm oil, rubber, cocoa and kenaf smallholders.
* Allocating a special assistance scheme worth RM222 million for Felcra, Kesedar and Ketengah settlers.
* Reducing the maximum limit on interest rates and late payment charges for credit cards.
* Revising individual and corporate income tax rates to ensure Malaysia remains competitive in the regional market.
* Allocating RM3 million for the Art Practitioners Welfare Fund (Tabung Kebajikan Penggiat Seni TKPS) every 5 years.
* Providing an individual tax incentive of RM1,000 a year for those who contribute towards the development of national cultural arts.
10. Future oriented education
* Equipping five million school-going children with digital skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) within five years.
* Increasing the number of subjects in the Dual Language Programme (DLP) to make it more comprehensive.
* Improving English language proficiency in schools through the Dual Language Programme (DLP), High Immersion Programme (HIP) and the introduction of English medium schools in Sabah and Sarawak as pilot projects.
* Introducing special student discount cards to reduce the costs of transportation, Government services and education-related necessities.
* Incorporating more historical facts and perspectives from Sabah and Sarawak to enhance the History subject syllabus.
* Establishing an Institute of Native and Indigenous Peoples Studies at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
* Qualified citizens with overseas examination certificates that are equivalent to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) will be considered for enrolment in higher education institutions (HEI), under the condition that they obtain a credit in Bahasa Malaysia and a pass in History – this criteria also applies to issues pertaining to Unified Examination Certificate Senior Middle (UEC).
11. Live healthy
* Increasing the current individual income tax exemption rate for parents’ medical expenses from RM5,000 to RM10,000.
12. Peaceful Negaraku
* Transforming the police elite corps such as the Special Tactics and Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING), Special Task Force on Organised Crime (STAFOC) and the Special Task Force for Anti-Vice, Gambling and Gangsterism (STAGG) to increase the effectiveness of efforts in eradicating drugtrafficking, gambling, triad gangs and organised crime.
* Increasing the number of high definition closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV HD) in high-crime areas.
* Increasing the number of Voluntary Patrolling Scheme members to increase security controls and preserve the peace in areas with high crime rates.
* Boosting community involvement in crime prevention through PDRM’s initiatives by using the Volunteer Smartphone Patrol application.
* Ensuring all Police lock-ups in the country are equipped with high definition closed circuit television cameras (CCTV HD), as a way to prevent incidents of death, suicide and fighting during detention.
13. TN50
*Emboldening the role of youth in national development by generating new, fresh and creative policy ideas.
*Increasing the youth’s engagement with local governments (PBT) by establishing Youth PBT Councils that are capable of empowering
the role and voice of the youth at the local government level.
14. Universal Childcare
*Implementing a Universal Child Care policy by developing a curriculum, inclusive programmes and nutritious food guidelines, besides training professional childcare personnel.
*Adapting the flexible work hour scheme for mothers with children aged two and below.
Other Major Highlights
* Establishing a special non-Muslim unit in the Prime Minister’s Department to promote dialogue on equality and mutual understanding between races.
* The rights of Sabah and Sarawak under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 will be realised by consensus.
Political promise of transformation
In all, the 364 initiatives could be summed up as the fourteen core offerings.
It is more visible when the 220 page book is summarised.
The Star story:
It is a continuation and an extension of the Transformation Plan Prime Minister Najib brought the nation to embark, less than a year after ascending into office as the Seventh UMNO President, Fifth BN Chairman and Sixth Prime Minister, nine years ago.
Starting with basics, three million new jobs would created.
As previously articulated in various engagements, especially with Malaysian youths and under the context of ‘TN 50 Discourse’, the Federal Government is embarking towards the digital economy and ensuring the workforce amongst the youth and future generation would be skilled and suited for the demand of the changing economy and economic platform.
Earlier in the week, independent opinion such as the Managing Partner of PwC Malaysia projected the Malaysian economy would be global 24th position by 2020.
The Star story:
As part of the game to realise that, the most strategic bit of the BN Manisfesto is Prime Minister Najib intends to optimise the nation’s most prized resources; women and youth.
Of course, in the minds of the common voters, their biggest concern is the rising cost of living. The past month, Federal Government through agencies have been increasing allowances and the civil servants even got an across the board raise, as a direct effort to put disposable income into peoples’ pocket.
This BN Manifesto brought more goodies to the Malaysians under the B40 category, as His Majesty’s treasury chests have in a better position to alleviate their basic hardship.
The Star story:
All the increase in allowances, salary and direct subsistence would translate a more active domestic market and would promote the bigger cycle for every Ringgit available in the open.
It is by far the boldness economic transformation agenda, by optimising all domestic resources having the complete systemic support of affordable homes to all, higher quality of life, higher productivity from higher skilled workforce which translate to higher household income, more comprehensive infrastructure nation wide and welfare of family units, especially working parents with young children.
BN, which a political organisation of 14 component parties ensure all pockets of Malaysians anywhere in the Federation, would be included in the transformation.
A Sabahan MP’s note on the BN Manifesto about the policy of ‘inclusiveness’:
Foreign Minister Anifah had been playing a very paramount role inthe Malaysian foreign policy and international diplomacy the past nine years.
The transformation is immense as Malaysia is gaining more prominence and higher role in various global dialogue and it is a very strategic extension of Malaysia’s foreign trade.
An MP of forty years representing people of Johor Bahru and has been in the central core administration in various capacity since Tun Razak’s time opined that Prime Minister Najib’s leadership is optimising competency and capability.
New Straits Times story:
The last bit is probably the most important bit, for BN’s struggle for the people. It had been the cornerstone policy of BN taking the nation to move forward, grow and achieve better stature. However, it is without compromising the Bumiputera Agenda. It is policy to alleviate and uplift them not at the expense of the others.
New Straits Times story:
So far, more than nine of ten promises have been delivered or work-in-progress. More goodies are included, to ensure everyone is not left behind in the Transformation Plan for Malaysia.
This is why voters decided who to lead and take care of business, so that everyone can do about the business in going concern and gets a bottomline.