Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (C) speaks during a campaign event of Malaysia's ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) at an indoor stadium in suburb Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on April 7, 2018. Malaysia's ruling coalition Barisan Nasional, or National Front, which Prime Minister Najib Razak serves as chairman, released its campaign manifesto on Saturday, which includes cash handouts and other kinds of benefits to voters. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)
KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN), or National Front, which Prime Minister Najib Razak serves as chairman, released its campaign manifesto on Saturday, which include cash handouts and other kinds of benefits to voters.
During a grandiose campaign event at an indoor stadium in suburb Kuala Lumpur, Najib promised more than 40,000 attendees that he wanted to lower their cost of living, create more jobs for the young and make "a greater Malaysia with BN."
Aside from raising the minimum wage from the current 1,000 ringgit (258 U.S. dollars) per month to 1,500 ringgit within five years, Najib pledged to create a special grant to reduce the debt of palm-oil farmers, a major group of BN supporters who in recent years have been complaining about rising costs and less income.
As for the poor, Najib said as many as 7 million people have received support through 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M), a mechanism he said will expand to cover more people and dole out more cash.
In addition, Najib also tried to seek support of voters in eastern Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak. By addressing a prominent complaint from the voters in Sarawak, Najib said the federal government will return more gas rights to the two states.
Malaysia's parliament was dissolved effective on Saturday, paving the way for the holding of a general election within the next 60 days in which Najib is seeking another mandate after holding the position for nine years.
This time, Najib is facing the challenge of 92-year-old former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who fell out with Najib over the 1MDB scandal and quit United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in 2016.
Mahathir has said he hoped that the Malay voters, traditionally the supporters of the ruling coalition, could turn to the opposition and change regime this time. The opposition coalition, called Pakatan Harapan, also released their campaign manifesto previously, in which it also promised a slew of benefits to voters.
