He said in a Facebook post that he had expected a major overhaul because the Pakatan Harapan government was fond of criticising the policies and administration of the previous Barisan Nasional government.
“The mid-term review should have been the perfect opportunity for (Prime Minister) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) and his team to enlighten the opposition as well as the rakyat of their grand strategies to bolster national development.
“But we were simply presented with a rebranding and repackaging of previous initiatives, peppered with keywords synonymous with Pakatan Harapan (PH) such as ‘reformasi’ (reformation) and ‘berhemat’ (financially prudent).”
He said the mid-term review showed the PH government intended to embark on austerity measures.
The government, he said, had boasted about its intention to improve the financial position of the government but its actions ran counter to the stated goals.
“For instance, the 11th Malaysia Plan had a budget deficit target of 0.6% of GDP by 2020, but this goal is now postponed and replaced with a deficit target of 3% of GDP by 2020, despite cancellation of mega projects such as the High Speed Rail.”
He said it was ironic that the government was saying it intended to empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs) so that they would contribute to 41% of the country’s GDP by 2020, when the PH government had, as soon as it came to power, halted the operation of the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs (SAME).
“SAME, which served Chinese SMEs, was part of my portfolio when I was minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
“And oddly enough, the Special Secretariat for Empowerment of Indian Entreprises (SEED) and Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju) are still functioning. Isn’t the Pakatan government supposed to champion inclusivity and assist rakyat of all races? Closing SAME surely does not augur well with Dr Mahathir’s promise to create an ‘equitable society’ in the midterm review by introducing specific initiatives for Chinese and Indian communities.”
On the plan to decentralise authority to the states and local governments, Wee said: “While it is a noble idea as the local authorities would be able to craft local policies ideal to their areas for growth, allocation of funds was not addressed.”
On the move to implement a progressive levy on foreign workers, Wee advised the government to consult local industries as many were dependent on foreign workers.
“They need to refrain from crafting policies out of their imagination in their air-conditioned offices,” he added.
He said talk of separating the office of the attorney-general and public prosecutor was “too late now as public confidence in the institutions is already compromised with Pakatan politicians being let off the hook recently, namely Lim Guan Eng and Rafizi Ramli”.