Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad speaks to reporters in Putrajaya in this photo released May 8, 2019. — Bernama pic

PUTRAJAYA, May 8 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration is not simply renaming the previous government’s ideas and initiatives but also enhancing them, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad insisted.

According to the prime minister, some initiatives were continued from the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration as part of PH’s responsibilities as the ruling coalition, but those ideas were fundamentally improved on by stripping out elements of corruption and cronyism.

“The fact is that the previous government tried to do what [its predecessors] did, and they failed,” he told a group media interview here.

“So we will do it in the proper way, not through corruption, not through giving contracts to cronies, not asking contract prices to be hiked in order to take money. Those are the things they do.

“But we have to do the same thing without corruption, that is the difference. It’s not just doing what they have done,” he added.

Last month while campaigning in Rantau, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak accused the PH government of stealing its predecessor’s ideas and rebranding them for itself.

The Pekan MP said many projects and proposals made during his administration were initially shut down, and then reopened under the current government with mere name changes and claimed as PH’s own.

Among those Najib cited include Klinik 1M to Klinik Komuniti, the Automated Enforcement System (AES) to Automated Awareness Safety System (AwAS), the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) to the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD), and 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) to Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH).