'Vote BN and receive more BR1M-like aid'

The government is promising more aid such as the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) if it gets the mandate to continue with its world-acclaimed economic transformation programmes.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the implementation of the economic transformation programmes had not only been able to spur the country’s current economic growth but to also raise the national income.

“With increased national income, the government has been able to return it to the ‘rakyat’ through such aid as BR1M 1, BR1M 2.0 and BR1M 3.0,” he said to a crowd of more than 10,000 attending the Johor-level Chinese New Year celebration, here, yesterday.

Najib, who is also Umno president and Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said if the people wanted the beneficial national economic transformation agenda to continue, they should give BN the mandate to continue governing the country.

“If the mandate is given (to BN) to form a strong government, Malaysia will have an awesome and brilliant future,” he said.

Also present were Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, Kulai Member of Parliament Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting, and several cabinet ministers and BN component party leaders.

The prime minister said the government, through the economic transformation programmes, had managed to raise the people’s per capita income to US$9,750 (RM30,210) at the end of 2011 from US$6,700 at the end of 2009.

He said this was in line with the government’s effort towards making Malaysia a high-income nation by 2020.

Najib said the success of Malaysia’s economic transformation programmes which boosted economic growth and increased the national income had been acknowledged by the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.

He said in his meeting with Lagarde, she admitted that Malaysia was one country that the agency had to review its projected economic growth to a higher level.

The success of managing the country’s economy, said Najib, had also given Qatar’s investment agency the confidence to invest in building Harrods Hotel in Malaysian, the first in the world.

He said besides Harrods Hotel, the investors who had confidence in Malaysia’s economic transformation programmes would also be investing billions of ringgit to build a 65-storey Four Seasons Hotel in the federal capital.

The prime minister said the Iskandar Malaysia Development Region since it was launched in 2006 until the end of 2012 also had managed to attract RM106 billion worth of investments from in and outside the country.

This Feb 19, Najib said, he and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong would visit Iskandar Malaysia to launch the iconic Wellness Township project.

“The country’s economic transformation programmes are going on rapidly and the people have already received the benefits. The proof of the succees of these transformation programmes can be seen around us,” he said.

He cited the Johor Premium Outlet (JPO) located in Kulaijaya which would begin its phase two expansion project although the outlet was officially opened only recently.

Najib said under the phase two project, the JPO management would add 70 more shops.

He said the market was waiting for a clear mandate from the people for the government, which would see it (market) move to a higher level, further boosting investors’ confidence in the Malaysian economy.

“All will benefit if they make the right decision,” he added.

According to him, one benefit after another received by the people as a result of the successful economic transformation programmes implemented proved that the government had fulfilled all its promises.

“We have not been selling promises like what has been done by the opposition. The BN government practises ‘Janji Ditepati’ (Promises Fulfilled) on all its promises made to the people,” he said.

At the event, Najib also handed out the BR1M 2.0 vouchers to 20 of the recipients in the Kulai parliamentary constituency.