Malaysia: Only Dr Mahathir can solve Malaysia’s debt woes: Shafie

• Shafie Apdal has thrown his support behind Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the next prime minister, saying the Pakatan Harapan chairman is the only leader capable of getting Malaysia out of its current debt crisis. He said the ability of the 92-year-old was proven when he helped Malaysia weather the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
• “The national debt is growing and it is just a matter of time when the government will no longer have the finances to settle its debts,” he told a crowd of 2,000 supporters at the “Bicara Pemimpin Warisan” in Kadamaian, Kota Belud on 13 Jan 18.
• In urging the crowd to forget their grudge against Dr Mahathir, Shafie said Sabahans need to look beyond their grudge to bring about “big change” in the 14th general election.
• Dr Mahathir has been blamed for flooding Sabah with migrants from the Philippines and Indonesia by legalising them through “Projek IC”.
• Shafie said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government implemented the goods and services tax (GST) because of the country’s rising debts, adding, there was no need to implement a regressive tax regime.
• Shafie, who is Semporna MP, told the crowd that if Warisan formed the Sabah government, one of the things it will do is to abolish the GST and will work with Pakatan Harapan to achieve this goal.
• He reiterated, however, that Warisan will not join the coalition chaired by Dr Mahathir, but will support them to bring down the BN government.
• Shafie said Warisan has a clear goal to transform Sabah like Sarawak, where only local parties have absolute power in the state.

External Link : https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/32353/