Manifesto Rakyat, the People’s Manifesto, unveiled in Shah Alam on 25 February 2013 seeks to place the needs and hopes of the Malaysian people as paramount. Carrying the banner Pakatan Harapan Rakyat (The People’s Pact, People’s Hope), the manifesto aims to address the people’s economic disparities, curb corrupt practices, establish institutional reforms and re-appreciating the country’s diverse cultural potentialities.

Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto comes with four pillars, namely: the Fraternity of the People, the People’s Economy, the People’s Well-being and the People’s Government.

The manifesto was tabled by PKR Strategic Director, Rafizi Ramli; PAS Central Committee Member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, and DAP National Vice Chairman M Kulasegaran.

The summarized points of the manifesto are:

THE PEOPLE’S WELL-BEING

1. Lower oil prices
2. Lower electricity charges
3. Lower water charges
4. Abolish tolls
5. Abolish monopolies
6. Lower car prices
7. 150,000 affordable and comfortable housing
8. National Housing Corporation: investing RM5 billion in the first year and RM2 billion a year after to build affordable and comfortable housing
9. Free education for all, abolishing PTPTN
10. Eliminate AES, revoking AES summonses
11. Justice for FELDA settlers
12. Increase police capabilities to solving crime
13. Free ward service to all citizens in all government hospitals for class 2 and 3 wards
14. Social Welfare Assistance increased to RM550 a month

THE FRATERNITY OF THE PEOPLE

1. Respect the position of Islam as the official religion and guaranteeing the freedom of religion as enshrined in the Federal Constitution
2. Elevate culture as a positive foundation of community
3. Malaysian Women’s Contribution Fund: contribution of RM50 per month for wives who qualify, and husbands will be obliged to provide toward a contribution fund proportionate to their income (between RM10 to RM100 per month).
4. Senior Citizens’ Bonus Scheme (60 years and above): RM1,000 Bonus each year
5. Uphold the national language, ensure the rights of mother-tongue languages, and improve the command of English
6. Additional assistance of RM300 per student each year for the 1,854 people’s religious schools, national-type Chinese and Tamil schools (SJK), private Chinese, Tamil, Iban, Kadazan and mission schools.
7. Recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (Combined Chinese Schools) (UEC)
8. Respect the position of Sabah and Sarawak in the Federation – federal cooperation, fair representation, citizenship, recognition of customary Land Rights, competence and capability of Sabah and Sarawak, justice in the oil issue, and unified development
9. Immediate programmes for Sabah and Sarawak – eliminate cabotage system, create investment incentives to create jobs, oil companies owned by the governments of Sabah and Sarawak, highway across Sabah and Sarawak, halt the construction of dams that destroy the environment and displace locals
10. Increase oil royalty payment to oil- and gas-producing states from 5% to 20%
11. Preserve Orang Asli customary land rights and welfare

THE PEOPLE’S ECONOMY

1. 1 million new job opportunities for the people by gradually reducing dependence on foreign labour
2. Minimum wage of RM1,100 per month; RM2 billion facilitation fund to facilitate minimum wage
3. People’s Pioneer Scheme: train 1 million school leavers without higher education to uplift their skills in technical fields, combining employment opportunities with periodic certification of skills.
4. 5 technical universities and 25 new vocational schools to be built
5. Education reform to drive the economy
6. Cultivate smart partnership of trade unions, employers and government SMIs and innovation to drive the national economy – RM500 million national innovation fund, SMI financing and incentives reshuffle
7. Tax adjustment to promote equity – income band will be broadened so that the 26% tax rate will be payable for taxable income exceeding RM400,000 as compared to RM250,000 at present
8. Sustainable economy – halt Lynas operations, review implementation phases of RAPID, reform all existing legislation related to logging, and will regulate logging activities
9. Defend military veterans’ economy and welfare – RM500 million for Military Veterans’ Small Entrepreneur Fund, increase government contribution to the Armed Forces Fund Board  (AFFB) from 15% to 20% (managed separately from pension funds), Soldiers’ Dividend will remunerate non-pensionable veterans to the amount of RM2,000 per year
10. Making taxi entrepreneurs viable by giving permits directly to taxi drivers R&D investments to reach 5% of GDP
11. Public transport – the lifeline of the national economy – free public transport for differently-abled people, integrated plan involving MRT and buses in the Klang Valley, RM2 billion to double the number of buses and bus routes, initiate steps towards building the first inter-city high speed rail system in Southeast Asia
12. Break monopolies to encourage competition – Anti-Monopoly Commission, Public Contracts Commission to evaluate public agreements like IPP and unfair concessions, break up monopolies in communications, essential foods, pharmaceuticals, civil aviation and other key sectors, dissolve 1MDB, open tenders, disposal and handover of government holdings in selected government-linked companies (GLCs) via management buy-out (MBO) to produce more viable entrepreneurs

PEOPLE’S GOVERNMENT

1. Reform Islamic and religious institutions
2. New remuneration and service packages for civil servants
3. Clean, fair and transparent elections
4. Reform the judiciary, Attorney General’s Chambers, MACC and PDRM
5. Reform Parliament
6. Media freedom and restore trust in media practitioners
7. Abolish UUCA and ensure academic freedom
8. Abolish legislation that is “anti-rakyat”
9. Corruption Elimination Policy (DEBARAN) – restructure the MACC to focus on big corruption cases that involve the public interest, tighten corruption-related legislation

Get the full version of Manifesto Rakyat here: www.pakatanrakyat.my