Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim warned that the government - particularly Pakatan Harapan and PKR - has three years left to prevent Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim from suffering the same fate as former UK premier Rishi Sunak.
The PKR lawmaker urged the government to build the right narrative and back up its words with action so the people can put food on the table and not be burdened with the rising cost of living.
This comes amid the aftermath of the government’s defeat in the Sungai Bakap by-election yesterday.
“When inflation dips and workers' wages increase, then perhaps most people, especially the B40 and M40 groups, will take a more friendly attitude and favour PKR, Harapan and the government,” he said in a statement.
Yesterday, Perikatan Nasional’s candidate Abidin Ismail won the Sungai Bakap state seat, garnering a larger majority of 4,267 votes than his predecessor’s 1,563 votes.
Abidin, who is also the Nibong Tebal PAS vice-chief, managed to secure 14,489 votes against his challenger Joohari Ariffin’s 10,222 votes.
In the UK polls on July 4, the opposition Labour Party secured a landslide win over Sunak’s Conservative Party ending 14 years of Tory rule.
‘Cold reception’
Hassan said while helping the government’s team during the first week of the Sungai Bakap campaign, he noticed a lukewarm response from their own supporters when speaking in a village in Sungai Buaya.
"There was a cold reception. We spoke in front of our supporters from Harapan, especially PKR members. Almost all of them were outsiders, not local residents, not voters.
"I tried to support the Harapan candidate and the government on the targeted diesel subsidy issue. However, my speech was bland. I saw even Harapan supporters themselves looked defensive on the diesel subsidy issue," he added.
Offering solutions, Hassan said the government must prove it is different from previous administrations when it comes to combating corruption.
"Two days before polling day on July 4, the auditor-general's report highlighted irregularities and leakages involving 11 projects related to the government.
"Among them included embezzlement and leakages worth billions of ringgit that happened during the present government.
"So, it is easy for the people in Sungai Bakap to conclude that there is no difference between the current government and the previous administrations," he added.
Joohari bears ‘sins of the party’
The PKR leader said that while Joohari was a good candidate for the by-election, the latter had to bear “the sins of the party”.
"Unfortunately, for the first time, a PKR candidate had to ‘bear the sins of the party’ which is said to have broken its own promises of reforms to the extent that Bersih gave an F grade to the PKR-led government.
"It's not Anwar’s fault, nor the fault of (Deputy Prime Minister) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi nor Umno, nor PKR that the Madani government had to be formed.
"Like it or not, a government must be established to govern the country. But for many people, whether Malay or non-Malay; whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim communities, they consider the government to be pragmatic, but they think it is a perverse form of reform politics," Hassan added.
Therefore, he said that it was not surprising that Sungai Bakap voters rejected the PKR candidate representing the coalition government.
Diesel subsidy move
However, Hassan said it was clear that the government lost in Sungai Bakap due to economic issues.
He added that it was just like how former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak lost the 14th general election due to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and the 1MDB scandal.
"This time in the Sungai Bakap by-election, PKR and Harapan lost due to the targeted diesel subsidy issue," Hassan claimed.
While he personally agreed to the measure to strengthen the economy, it backfired in Sungai Bakap.
"The people are angry because it caused the price of other goods to rise, resulting in a higher cost of living.
"The political narrative was also not good when the diesel subsidy was partially withdrawn after the government increased the Sales and Services Tax from six percent to eight percent for certain goods.
"It is the people’s nature in any country. They won’t like it if their subsidies are reduced or eliminated or tax is increased,” he said.
"The policies on taxes and subsidies were decided in Putrajaya but the consequence was the defeat of the PKR candidate in Sungai Bakap," he added.
Blackrock and Palestinian struggle
In terms of Malay and Muslim politics, Hassan said the government lost the narrative and optics.
"Anwar's bold and loud steps on the international stage in defence of the Palestinian people in Gaza, for a while, strengthened his position in the eyes of the Malays who have emotional and sentimental ties with the Muslims in Palestine.
"But it started to collapse when Anwar, who is also the finance minister and Khazanah Nasional chairperson, agreed to sell part of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad’s (MAHB) shares to the Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).
“GIP is set to be acquired by BlackRock, an international investment company of the United States that strongly supports the Israeli regime," he added. - Mkini
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