Study: People confident, cautious over Pakatan government’s first 100 days

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KUALA LUMPUR: On Saturday, Aug 18, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government would have been in power for 100 days.

A nationwide telephone survey carried out by Kajidata Research since June reveals that Malaysians generally remain confident about the new government.

However, they are divided in their view of some of the actions taken to fulfill the promises of the PH election manifesto or Buku Harapan.

Despite their differing views, the majority of the respondents view the abolition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the reintroduction of the fuel subsidy, and the deferment of the PTPTN study loan repayments for those earning below RM4,000 per month as priority matters and feel the rest can come later.

The majority (83 per cent) of the 1,040 respondents welcome the change of the ruling party following the 14th General Election (GE14) but almost equal numbers stated that they are confident (33 per cent), not confident (33 per cent) and not sure (34 per cent) that the 10 election manifesto promises will be realised within the 100-day deadline.

While they are aware of the PH government’s initial decision to scrap the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), MRT3 and the High-Speed Rail (HSR) to Singapore, Malaysians also appear divided on the matter.

Equal numbers of respondents (36 per cent) are for and against the termination of the ECRL, with almost similar numbers agreeing (34 per cent) that MRT3 should be continued while another group (33 per cent) felt it should be stopped.

Kajidata Research advisor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Syed Arabi Idid highlighted that if the breakdown based on the states was considered, it was obvious that those in the east coast favoured the ECRL and those in the Klang Valley favoured the MRT3 as these modes of transport are beneficial to the respective communities in the two regions.

However, there was a stark difference in their stand on HSR with most (43 per cent) wanting it terminated while only 28 per cent want it to proceed.

The majority of the respondents (53 per cent), mostly in Sabah and Sarawak, wanted the Pan Borneo Highway to continue while only a smaller number (18 per cent) wanted it to be discontinued.

On whether the new government will continue protecting the rights and privileges of Bumiputeras and the position of Islam, a significant number (49 per cent) say they are unsure and a small number (13 per cent) believe both are at stake.

Syed Arabi noted that most respondents from the east coast states ruled by PAS, namely Kelantan and Terengganu, were the ones who feel insecure over the position of Islam and Malays in the country under PH rule.

The study also tested the respondents’ confidence on the first set of six ministers appointed by the PH government with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the top of the list (72 per cent), followed by Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali (68 per cent), Dr Mazlee Malik (67 per cent), Lim Guan Eng (60 per cent), Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (58 per cent) and Mohamad Sabu (54 per cent).

He said it was no surprise that Muhyiddin is ahead as he has been in the government before under Barisan Nasional while Azmin, too, has proven his worth as the former Selangor Menteri Besar.

Dr Mazlee’s rating was high then as the study was conducted before the promise of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) recognition for Chinese independent schools became a contentious issue.

Slightly more than half (53 per cent) of the respondents are also satisfied with the new government reopening investigations over 1MDB and also another half (50 per cent) are satisfied that the government has divulged the country’s actual debt that amounted to more than RM1 trillion.

“These very much reflected the transparency promised by the PH,” said the former rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia.

The study also found out that 95 per cent of the respondents were aware that the GST has been zero-rated with 78 per cent supporting the PH government’s decision to do away with the tax.

Syed Arabi also noted that a sizeable number of respondents had replied that they were unsure about several questions as they remained cautious because PH is an untested coalition.

On PH’s part, he said, fulfilling its promises within the 100 days is definitely a challenge as there were many issues that it had not anticipated before GE14 like the huge national debt where now it has to do lots of rethinking on the promises made.

“After 100 days, after the honeymoon period is over, people are going to be more critical of the PH government,” Syed Arabi said, adding that Kajidata would continue to monitor the people’s perception of the PH government after the 100 days.

Kajidata Research specialises in Commercial and Social intelligence, providing insights beyond data and enabling actionable insights.

The respondents come from different age, ethnicity, income, and education levels, all selected through the stratified random sampling method. — Bernama