But things were not always this way.
In a study titled “What Worries Malaysia: Post GE 2018” published on Aug 16, 2018, the polls reported that 66% of Malaysians were confident that the new government was heading in the right track.
Similarly, according to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report, Malaysians showed an increase in trust for the government compared with 2018.
The survey that was conducted between Oct 19 and Nov 16, 2018, just several months after the first 100-day, reported an increase in trust from 14 points to 60 points.
Perhaps the reason this trend is now reversing, as seen in Semenyih, is because PH has not been seen to be fulfilling its manifesto promises.
So much hope and trust has been placed upon this coalition. To betray this and start breaking promises is to me, the highest degree of sin committed.
Walk the talk
With each vote cast for the PH, the people were entrusting the lives and the future of 32 million people in the hands of the governing party in the last general election. The people believed in the party leadership as well as the promises made in the manifesto – but it appears not all PH people are committed to fulfilling these promises.
It’s been how long again since those 100 days? The 10 promises still have not been fully realised. How does that bode for the 60 promises in five years?
Even Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted that the manifesto was written with losing the election in mind. In the end, were these only false hopes and promises?
Mahathir acknowledged that there were indeed problems with the implementation of the promises and that a review was needed now that they were in power. This is good because admitting you have a problem is the first step in fixing the problem.
However, this is no time for PH to stop and point fingers at the opposition; no more revenge politics.
Their utmost priority must be to fulfil the manifesto before they lose the confidence of the people. We all know that it takes time to clean up the mess made by the previous government, but reusing the same excuses to defend against not keeping the promises gets stale over time.
Gaining back trust
At the hand of the voters, even 61 years of BN rule came to an abrupt end. The same could happen to the PH government in a few years time if they don’t act now. Having the people on their side is not an option – it’s a necessity. To gain back the people’s trust is easier said than done.
One way to go about it is by addressing the main concerns of the people. Referring back to the “What Worries Malaysia” study, Malaysians expressed several concerns including financial/political corruption, unemployment, poverty and inequality, moral decline, taxes and crime and violence.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has also outlined six areas in which governments can win back trust: reliability, responsiveness, openness, better regulation, integrity and fairness, and inclusive policy making.
With these criteria as the guiding compass, I would like to recommend that the government implement a six-step programme to gain back the people’s confidence:
Step 1: Minimise public uncertainty in the economic, social and political landscape. Keep internal strife to a minimum.
Step 2: Engage with citizens to ensure quality, responsiveness and ultimately trust in the public service.
Step 3: Be transparent and clear about your undertakings. If a policy is facing implementation hurdles, tell us the causes and how you plan to solve it. Clarify, do not leave it to speculation.
Step 4: Start improving the design and enforcement of the regulatory framework. Develop specific key performance indicators on the implementation of good regulatory practice across government.
Step 5: Adopt inclusive policy-making to ensure that policies, laws, procedures and decisions concerning the matter adequately reflect the rights, needs and aspirations of individuals and communities who will be affected by them. Get feedback from the people before deciding, unlike the new toll implementation.
Step 6: Last but not least, fulfil the promises you’ve made.
Should PH fail to follow through with the programme, they will have to face the people’s anger and frustration. With the new Umno-PAS coalition making strides, PH will certainly find itself on the losing end come the 15th general election if it does not buck up.
Eyman Hadi is a research analyst at EMIR Research, a think tank focused on data-driven policy research.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.