Is BN Practising Welfare State Or Vampire State, PAS Slams Najib

It is confirmed. UMNO's strategy to attack PAS is by circulating sex CDs and harping on PAS' Welfare State.

The attacks will increase in ferocity and it will be no-holds-barred and under-the-belt. It is going to get dirtier as the 13th General Eelection approaches. A sign of the sort of attack that Pakatan Rakyat can expect is the incredulous statement from former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who slipped in the notion that the biggest winner of the recent PAS party polls is DAP's Karpal Singh.

To pundits, Mahathir's intention was to get the PAS grassroots angry that their party leadership had abandoned their Islamic State struggle and was now under DAP's control.

UMNO leaders have also attacked PAS by saying that the party is now power-crazy, deviated from its Muslim agenda and was now controlled by 'Anwarites' or those who supported Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Who Us, Copy Cats ?

But to most PAS watchers, it was Prime Minister Najib Razak's latest statement that must surely take the cake, the bun and the whole bakery too. Najib accused PAS of copying BN's welfare state concept, saying that BN has been practising this since Independence from colonial rule in 1957.

For most Malaysians, welfare state means that the state cares for its citizens. Care is the keyword and this they do not see forthcoming at all especially amid the current controversy over the subsidy cuts.

Disgruntled Malaysians believe they are getting the short end of the stick. They are also fed up of having to fight for concessions that rightfully, Najib should immediately work on, rather than defend the huge corporations at their expense.

"The meaning of Welfare State is that the people's interests should first and foremost be looked after," PAS Kubang Krian MP Salahudin Ayub told Malaysia Chronicle.

So far, Najib has only defined a welfare state to the building of schools, hospitals, roads, etc. But pundits say, that is not a welfare state.

"That is the responsibility and duty of a government, whether welfare or not," said Salahudin..

He pointed after the June 1 electricty rate hike, more subsidy cuts will be in store as Najib has refused to trim the RM19 billion gas subsidy granted to the Independent Power Producers.

The BN government also plans to implement the GST (Goods & Services Tax) next year, another move that will further burden the man on the street as they have not received any commensurate pay rise, Salahudin added. 

PAS Model Rooted In Prudent Spending

PAS is now finalising its welfare state blueprint. According to Salahudin, the PAS model will be kind to the rakyatas PAS leaders will emphasise on prudent financial management.

The plan will also be rooted in Islamic teaching and will also be outlined in the Pakatan Rakyat's Buku Jingga or Orange Book of socio-economic reforms

"The money saved will be channelled towards benefitting the people especially in assisting the hardcore poor," he said.

Meanwhile, PAS Titi Serong State assemblyman Khalil Idham Lim expressed shock that Najib would accuse PAS of copying BN.

According to Khalil, Malaysia was a welfare state only for low-skilled foreign workers from neighbouring countries. But for citizens, the importation of mass foreign labour at low wages has depressed Malaysian wages especially in the areas of plantation and manufacturing.

"For Malaysians, BN is practising Vampire State or Dracula Nation. Its policies are sucking the lifeblood out of therakyat or populace," Khalil told Malaysia Chronicle.

- Malaysia Chronicle