Failure after rakyat felt PH not serious in implementing manifesto, says Rafizi

SHAH ALAM - Outspoken PKR's Rafizi Ramli says the failure of Pakatan Harapan (PH) was not due to its previous manifesto but due to the rakyat's perception over failure to implement while in Putrajaya.

"The rakyat accepted the manifesto and they knew it was realistic.

"The problem was when the rakyat felt PH did not implement the manifesto well while it was in the government," he said in an interview with Sinar Harian.

He added that PH won the 14th General Elections (GE14) because of the manifesto as voters knew the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) would be controlled better and toll charges would be done way within stages.

"The issue is PH was dragged into a political struggle in that two years it was in Putrajaya," he said. Rafizi had recently made a comeback to politics after a two-year break.

The PKR vice president will also be contesting for the party's number 2 post during party elections in May. He had recently launched "Ayuh Malaysia" campaign to woo about 12 million fence-sitters. On the night of the launch a week ago, Rafizi had said they had registered up to 8,000 people.

During the interview, the former Pandan MP was also asked if PH needs Bersatu, the Malay party to woo Malay voters.

Rafizi said no as this view is held only by the older generation that a Malay party is needed to woo the Malay voters. PH supporters, he said are concerned over economic issues and those who want to vote for PKR and PH are due to the fact that "what can we offer them".

That is why he said he and Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar felt the 2018 policy framework needs to be reviewed.

"That is why we at Invoke have not stopped doing research, especially on economic needs concerning various races," he said. Invoke is a data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) specialist set up by Rafizi before GE14.