Malaysiakini reveals BN's report card

Tagged with the slogan, “Security, Peace, Prosperity”, the Barisan Nasional released its 24-page manifesto on 25 February, outlining the party’s intentions, goals and promises for the country should they be re-elected.

A my paper article, posted on Rocky’s Bru (26 February), reported that the manifesto was less a glance into the future than an endorsement of the past, being “heavily coated with the achievements of the BN government from 2004 to 2007” and “not comprehensive enough on the eight areas of [its] focus”. The BN is so confident that its track record speaks for itself it feels little inclination to give voters details on how it plans to improve.

But are the BN’s achievements since 2004 really grounds for such confidence? How well did they uphold and implement their promises and where are the figures misleading? A recent Malaysiakini investigation shed some light on these questions.

In a two-part report, Malaysiakini combed through the BN’s 2004 “Excellence, Glory, Distinction” manifesto, evaluating the party’s deliverance on promises made four years ago. Highlighting successes and failures using international figures and specific examples, Malaysiakini developed the Barisan Nasional’s “Report Card: Excellence, Glory, Distinction”.

Part I dealt with the economy, education and religion while Part II focused on law and order, traffic accidents and public service. Each section began with the BN’s purported objectives in the particular area and followed with Malaysiakini’s examination of their ability to perform. The report card did not appear to be a one-sided attack of the government; rather, Malaysiakini attributed credit where credit was due. For instance, it was noted that the Iskandar Development Region corridor, though still “in its infancy” (and thus, too young to rate its success) continues to experience investment from international property developers. Additionally, compared to other developing nations, GDP growth—between 5.2 and 7.2 per cent—was on par with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, and behind China and India only. Doubtless, these are the kinds of achievements lauded in the BN’s recent manifesto.

Malaysiakini, however, reveals how such figures can be misleading. While GDP growth “matches and surpasses other developing countries”, GDP per capita “continues to trail 3-5 times below”. Compare Hong Kong’s GDP per capita income at USD$30,448, to Malaysia’s at USD $7,098—that’s if it achieves its target growth of 6-6.5 percent in 2008. This revealing figure is undoubtedly one of great importance to Malaysian voters—how laudable is GDP growth if it does not benefit the majority of citizens? And what about the Gini coefficient for Malaysia - which reflects the wide income inequality in Malaysia?

In similar fashion, the report card assesses and evaluates the BN’s performance in the eight areas highlighted by the 2004 manifesto. After the first area, “Economy”, results barreled downhill at a rapid pace, eventually crashing into allegations of corruption within the ACA and the police department (“Developing moral, civic, and ethical values”), and figures representative of the increased crime rate.

The results of the BN “report card” are overwhelmingly negative. But there is some subjectivity within the report that should be taken into consideration. For instance, the Hindraf and Bersih arrests of 2007, under “Law and Order”, are portrayed with a negative bias, though pro-BN readers could interpret the amount of arrests made as a government success. Regardless, Malaysiakini’s report assembles a body of revealing facts and incidences that have become disaggregated over the course of the term and hidden beneath a sea of blue. For voters who turned to alternative sources of information this campaign period, BN’s track record told a different story.