10  July 2020

Press statement by MCA Youth Spokesperson Jacob Lee Yee Yuan


Say “NO” to Populist Political Chants



Before the watershed 14th general elections (GE14), Malaysians were bombarded with countless populist and shallow chats like “Free Tertiary Education”, “Abolish All Tolls”,  “RM1.50 per litre for Petrol” and plenty more from Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders. However, after 22 months of PH administration, these chants have revealed to be nothing more but empty promises. Unfortunately todate, PH leaders still echo such rhetoric.


Stern rebuke in warranted against PH leaders who jumped on the bandwagon and called for an extension of the existing loan moratorium by another 6 months from October 2020 to March 2021. They failed to consider Malaysia’s 6-pronged Covid-19 financial strategy and the prudent frameworks established by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) on Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and its member banks. Implementing this populist move will only jeopardise the banks’ liquidity.

As the backbone of a country’s economy, financial institutions provide high-skills and high-income employment to nearly 165,000 people in Malaysia. Should these banks fail to withstand the strain of another moratorium extension, the government would have to possibly intervene to fuel the liquidity needs. Clearly, PH leaders conveniently overlook that these funds stem from taxpayers’ coffers.

I am not against banks extending their moratoriums. However, it should be done on a case-by-case basis with BNM serving as the anchor of the nation’s financial stability. The government and BNM must remain independent of the business decisions of market players and must not give way to dictatorial tendencies and unhealthy market interferences.

Worst of all, this new chant is perpetuated by a certain qualified accountant aka a PH ex-Minister whose incompetency had caused (YoY%) slump in Malaysia’ GDP, culminating in a lower-than-expected 4.3% in 2019, a level not seen since financial crisis of 2008/9 and a steady decline in Malaysia’s Quarterly Business Confidence Index. Meanwhile, according to the data from the International Labour Organisation, youth unemployment had worsened during the PH government’s tenure, totalling 302,400 people in late-2019, which comprised roughly 60% of the total unemployment in Malaysia.

Lastly, PH leaders should first study the policies and measures introduced by Bank Negara and the Ministry of Finance before coming out with another populist chat. I appeal to all Malaysians to stay resilient by submitting their requests for a moratorium extension on a case-by-case basis (if required) to banks and use the lower OPR rate (1.75%) effectively.

Perikatan Nasional delivers where PH failed

PH is hypocritical in calling for a moratorium extension when they themselves had botched in preparing Malaysians to face economic pressures. Despite having 22 months to improve the cost of living and financial stability of the country, Malaysians still struggled with their day-to-day living. PH’s continued losses at by-elections reflect the rakyat’s disillusionment at PH in failing to resuscitate the economy.

Meanwhile, it was the Perikatan Nasional which quickly responded to the needs of Malaysians hit by the financial meltdown wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic when it unveiled RM295 billion worth of stimulus packages to alleviate the pressures from the rising cost of living. They are: RM250 billion Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package themed “no one left behind”, RM10 billion Prihatin Plus Package intended particularly for SMEs and micro-businesses and RM35 billion Penjana Economic Recovery Plan of which many of the beneficiaries are from the B40 group.

MCA stands ready to work with all communities, in particular struggling SMEs, by helping them gain access to these government measures. As part of the Executive, MCA likewise works with the government in executing PN-government policies to benefit the rakyat in addition to engaging stakeholders.

Together, we shall face these difficult times and together, we shall rise again stronger.

Jacob Lee Yee Yuan
MCA Youth Spokesperson

-MCA online-