Malaysians, let's do a Reality Check

News flash: BN dish out a manifesto. Wow, have they ever needed one?

The weird thing is this - How many of us can call this bluff?

Summary of BN manifesto

Economy
* Raise the nation’s productivity, income and competitiveness levels - by publishing false statistics.
* Cushion the effects of rising prices - by publishing false inflation figures
* Generate two million job opportunities - for 2 million immigrants from Indonesia, Bangla and Pakistan.
* Reduce the budget deficit further - more development funds, without increasing taxes - has this ever been done?
* Follow through on five development corridors to bring equitable growth, investment and job opportunities to all parts of Malaysia - if they can't make the MSC successful, do you think they can do it with 5 more?

Balanced development
* Eradicate hardcore poverty. Bring poverty rated down to 2.8 percent by 2010 - by publishing false statistics.
* Increase quality rural jobs and incomes - by one time payoffs during election
* Ensure access to modern quality healthcare - by dishing more hospitals construction contracts to cronies.
* Upgrade urban public transport and reduce traffic congestion - by dishing more construction contracts to cronies while increasing the traffic congestion until the next election.
* Affordable housing - for bumiputras since they can get 5% discount irrespective of their income levels.
* Continue to close the digital divide and improve broadband internet penetration - by dishing out more building and maintenance contracts for computer centers to cronies

Education
* Raise teachers’ minimum qualification and provide more training opportunities - from where?
* Continue to make national schools the school of choice by, among others, explaining the teaching of Mandarin and Tamil - sure, we can call this a bluff for sure.
* Safeguard the position of national-type schools - by not closing them down.
* Provide more scholarships for undergraduates for poor but deserving students - regardless of race
- as long as they are bumiputras.
* Identify apex universities and provide more autonomy and resources for public institutions of higher learning to attain world-class standards - by sending BN cronies to lawatan sambil belajar holidays.

Law and order
* Bring down the country’s crime index - by censoring the news and publishing false statistics
* Tackle drug abuse and other social ills - by funding moral police.
* Address the issue of illegal immigrants - by giving them an address
* Add 60,000 police personnel by 2011 - why not now?
* Set up more than 150 new Police stations and beat bases to increase presence in more neighourhoods
* Improve safety in schools, playgrounds and public areas - by dishing out more contracts to cronies.
* Focus police operations and resources in crime hot spots across the country - wasn't this an old promise?

Public services
* Speed up implementation of e-government initiatives - anyone ever used the e-government portal?
* Complete overhaul of all land offices and district offices - best joke I have ever heard.
* Speed up issuance of licences and permits - sure, lets just try the police permit first.
* Tie civil servants promotions, rewards and penalties more closely to performance targets - and they get a broom instead of the sack?
* Increase ethnic diversity in the public sector - by hiring more immigrants

Reducing corruption and improving government
* Continue to enforce anti-corruption measures without fear or favour - as long as PM is heading it and he is not charged.
* Strengthen monitoring and enforcement by agencies such as the ACA, Customs, Inland Revenue and local authorities - by dishing our more contracts for IT to cronies.
* Establish an effective Special Complaints Commission - more effective as they only attend to complains they want.
* Continue to foster a culture of integrity and high ethical standards through the National Integrity Plan - by starting with the people and not the leaders in government.

Religion and unity
* Build better understanding of Islam among Muslims and non-Muslims through Islam Hadhari - we need this, as none of us understand this Hadhari except the PM.
* Facilitate construction, consolidation and relocation of all places of worship via state government mechanism, coordinated at federal level, that will protect the interests of all communities - by demolishing existing temples and moving them to another site within the next 50 years.
* Increase dialogue on interfaith issues through the Department of National Unity and National Integration - sure, we need this as long as they can keep stealing the bodies.