WE HAVE THE NUMBERS SAYS ANWAR AGAIN - malaysiakini

WE HAVE THE NUMBERS SAYS ANWAR AGAIN - malaysiakini

Friday, May 23, 2008 at 11:56 PM Posted by jatt

Anwar Ibrahim says it again. Pakatan Rakyat has the numbers to take control of the federal government from the Barisan Nasional.

Addressing a PKR dinner in Kuching last night, the Pakatan de facto leader said many things were happening which made many Barisan MPs unhappy but they dared not speak out in Parliament.

The Barisan MPs could speak out if they join Pakatan, he added.

The former DPM said under the BN's long rule, a lot of things were going wrong which had put Malaysia way behind many other countries, such as Singapore and even Indonesia and Thailand , in terms of the economy, except for the corruption index which was going up.

The 'political tsunami' following the March 8 general election was the beginning of change necessary to make this country great once again, he said.

Clearly trying to erase any doubts about his claims, Anwar reiterated that Pakatan would topple the BN and form the federal government as “we already have the numbers but the timing for the change will come at the appropriate time”.

Pakatan Rakyat, a loose coalition comprising PKR, DAP and PAS, are in control of five states (Penang, Kedak, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan) and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. In the March 8 polls, Pakatan won 82 parliamentary seats against the BN's 140 seats, denying the latter of a two-third majority.

Figures from Jeffrey

But the current leadership crisis in Umno and the continuing demands especially by component parties in Sabah are threatening to chip away the ruling coalition's majority, and it is the frustrated Barisan MPs from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak that are now the targets of Pakatan.

As Anwar repeated his ‘number’ claim, one of his party’s veeps came out with some 'figures', as if to lend credence to the claim.

Dr Jeffrey Kitingan told Malaysiakini last night the numbers come from Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, almost equal in number for each of them.

According to Jeffrey who is also Sabah PKR deputy chief, the first batch of Barisan MPs to join Pakatan will take place either at the end of May or early next month.

This would be followed by those in the peninsula, he said, adding that Sarawak MPs would be the last to follow suit.

Anwar had earlier said that when forming the government, political stability was important just as immediate attention must be paid to the economy.

He repeated pledges to increase oil/gas revenue for Sarawak, Sabah and Terengganu from the present 5% to 20% should Pakatan form the government at the centre as well as reduce oil prices, saying this was possible because Malaysia, unlike Singapore and Thailand, is an oil exporting country, like the oil-producing and exporting Middle East countries where petrol prices for the local consumer market are low.

“You cannot say our petrol prices are lower than Singapore or Thailand and compare it. You should compare with the oil producing and exporting countries,” he added.

Anwar said under the BN, the country has lost its sense of direction, foreign direct investments are declining and the state of the economy is a big worry.

The former DPM said he would not like to make promises he could not keep, adding that should Pakatan take over, he would use all his overseas contacts with countries in China, the Middle East, Europe and the US to bring in foreign direct investments and to make Malaysia great again.