The
13th general election will not be held so soon as the government's reform
initiatives are not in full swing yet.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who
said this in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said the general
election would be held as soon as the economic reforms imposed produce real
results.
"Essentially, it's a call you have to
make on the basis of a feel-good factor, and that's when you press the
button," said Najib in the interview published yesterday.
He also insisted that the government had to
fulfil its promises to the people.
"You can have all the polling numbers but
you must have the sense that this is the right time. I hope it will be the
right time soon enough, but we still have not delivered on our promises and
it's important for people to have the feeling that the reforms we have promised
will actually benefit them," he added.
Najib acknowledged that the deteriorating
global economic environment, especially with Europe's debt crisis, could be a
factor on when to dissolve parliament.
"But so far we are still quite
comfortable because our exposure to the EU in terms of total trade is only
about 9 per cent. So, we are less vulnerable. But a Euro-zone collapse or some
other catastrophe there will affect the whole world," he said.
The general election has to be called before
April 2013, with much speculation that it could be held as early as March this
year.
In the interview, Najib also said Opposition
Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's recent acquittal from the sodomy charge
underscored the depth of the reform process.
"It shows that, as chief executive of the
country, I don't interfere in the judiciary," Najib said.
Anwar was acquitted on Monday on a charge of
sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
The judge ruled that there was a lack of
corroborative evidence in the two-year long trial to penalise the former deputy
prime minister.
Once the verdict was released, “all of the
tension surrounding the trial suddenly fell away and people suddenly realised
that there are more important things than just the Anwar issue.
"What is important now is that we move
forward," Najib added.
News Desk
The Star
Business & Investment Opportunities
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