“While the 17-month government of the Pakatan Harapan has fallen below expectations, it is definitely not an ‘unmitigated disaster’,” he said in his Deepavali message.

Lim said that the ruling coalition had not expected “the massive and deep-rooted nature and scale of the economic and financial disaster” left behind by the previous administration, citing the likes of 1MDB and the controversies that struck institutions like Felda and Tabung Haji.

This, he said, had prevented the government from immediately and fully implementing its pledges and promises.

Lim, who is the Iskandar Puteri MP, said this is why the PH Presidential Council established a special committee under the Deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong to review its election manifesto.

“Pakatan Harapan must be firm in our resolve and commitment to implement the reforms as promised in Buku Harapan,” he said.

At a forum on Friday, Lim Teck Ghee had described Putrajaya’s reform agenda as “an unmitigated disaster”.

Teck Ghee had listed an array of disappointments with PH, including issues on education, governance, race relations, religion, the Zakir Naik controversy, Malay Dignity Congress, and the non-ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

This led to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim questioning Teck Ghee’s credibility.

In a riposte, Anwar said: “This academic was quiet during the era of corruption and theft with the previous government, but now he wants to say the country is disastrous.”