Are Malaysians waiting for a fresh hope?

By a contributor

Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in accepting the fact that Malaysians were unhappy with the current state of affairs of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Government that he leads has certainly breathed fresh hope that things will change for the better before the next general election.

The people have given the PH Government a strong warning by not voting for the PH candidate in the recently concluded Tanjung Piai Parliamentary seat by-election despite the PH being the ruling coalition now. Instead they voted in support of the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate.

That must be seriously seen as a warning, he said, cautioning the coalition’s leadership that “many of the things being done by us are not well received by the people especially with regard to the cost of living.”

As to whether the loss was due to PH’s failure to honour its May 2018 general election manifesto, the 93-year old prime minister said many other issues were taken into consideration by the people.

“Maybe they want to remind us and we are reminded,” he said as quoted by many print and online local media, adding that action will be taken by the Government and also by all component parties of the PH coalition.

A political and public relation analyst Hamdan Adnan is glad that Dr Mahathir has mellowed down a lot to be able to accept such a show of dissatisfaction, if not a show of protest by the people, against his Government.

“The people have given PH Government more than enough time to improve Malaysia’s economy and they want to see the results, not the blame game on the previous BN government,” he said.

The PH Government could be a real Coalition of Hope for the rakyat or the people of Malaysia who voted them to oust the previous BN government who has been ruling Malaysia since Independence in 1957.

It was for that “Hope for the Better” that Malaysians voted for the PH Government, ousting the BN under the leadership of Najib Razak who, as promised by Mahathir during the general election campaign, was brought to court for numerous corruption charges. But, bringing Najib and a few other leaders to court was not the only election promises that Mahathir and the PH Government made.

The 2018 PH election manifesto that was seen to give hope for the better for Malaysians among others was to reduce the people’s burden which many expected to include lower cost of living and lower prices of goods.

Hamdan said 18 months in power was long enough for the PH Government to take effective measures to fulfil its manifesto.

Another political analyst Prof Dr Ahmad Atory Hussain also agreed that the people were not satisfied with the performance of the current PH Cabinet ministers.

“They are unhappy about the rising cost of living and prices of goods are not going down,” he said as quoted by a local daily. He said in fact it was not just the opposition that was unhappy with the ministers’ performance as some people within the PH too were also unhappy.

Another political analyst Prof Dr Jeniri Amir was reported in the press as saying that the PH Government needed to put the right people with the right experience and wisdom in the right place.

Stressing that ministers have to be experts in their respective fields and that they do not necessarily have to be politicians, he said they need to put things on the right track or they are going to pull down the government.

“They cannot keep asking for more time. It’s more than enough already. People want to see changes made, as promised,” he was quoted as saying by a local daily.

Stronger criticism came from a vital component party in the PH itself, the DAP, when its advisor Lim Kit Siang reminded PH to work hard and endeavour to fulfill all the pledges contained in its 14th General Election manifesto to ensure that the coalition will not become a one-term government, especially after the shocking result of the Tanjung Piai parliamentary by-election.

“If the Tanjong Piai by-election is a harbinger of the 15th General Election in 2023, then the PH government will be a one-term government and will be voted out of Putrajaya in the next general election,” he was quoted by local media as saying in his opening speech at Perak State DAP’s 20th annual convention recently.

Most Malaysians are educated people and would understand if the ruling government could not fulfil all its election promises in one go. They are willing to give enough time to see the many points in the manifesto turn into reality a few at a time. This will retain their confidence in the government.

On the other hand, Malaysians seem not quite willing to accept excuses such as the government lacks the necessary fund due to misdeeds of the previous BN government. They appreciated the fact that many leaders of the previous government are being brought to court for allegations of corruption and money laundering but at the same time they would appreciate much more the visible effort by the present government in improving the country’s economy and well-being of the people.

A popular columnist writing on the wake-up call for the PH Government said that the expression of unhappiness and dissatisfaction cut across the races and Malaysians, like the rest of the world, are spewing their most honest comments via social media.

He concluded his commentary saying if Pakatan Harapan does not wake up, then TP (as in Tanjung Piai by-election) will be the Turning Point.

Hamdan meanwhile is positive that Prime Minister Mahathir, after the defeat in Tanjung Piai, is now looking into the crux of things and his wisdom will prevail even if he has to reshuffle his Cabinet and order that all pledges by the PH Government become more visible to the people.