Give Harapan and its ministers some time, urges Muhyiddin

INTERVIEW | The rakyat can expect improvement in Pakatan Harapan's running of the government in a couple of years, said Muhyiddin Yassin.

Saying that the new government is still going through a learning process, the Harapan president said there is only so much the new government can do since it took over Putrajaya from BN.

This, he added, was especially for policy matters that Putrajaya needed to put back on track.

"I'm not saying this as an excuse. (Some would say) that in seven months we cannot do much.

"But the whole country is in such a situation to make things happen in seven months. I am not saying that it is impossible. It's possible, but you do what you can.

"In what you can afford to do, there are (also) certain limitations. But I think, given time, and I would say for certain, things will improve in a year or two.

“We are given five years, so obviously within the next one year things will improve in terms of how you run the country, manage issues and what needs to be given priority. This is what the government is trying to do," he told the media during a special interview on Monday.

Muhyiddin was asked for his take on the Pakatan Harapan government's performance and its recent flip-flopping over policy decisions.

The Harapan government which took over from BN after defeating the latter in the May 9 general election had come under fire over administrative issues as well its failure to keep some of its election promises.

Among those central to the criticisms were U-turns over decisions made including the PTPTN study loan repayment through monthly salary deductions and the promise to abolish highway tolls.

Muhyiddin pointed out that being a new government, there is a wide range of matters that need time to be addressed properly.

Putting things back in order

The Home Minister elaborated that they put importance on doing what they think is best for the country and some of the turned-around decisions were not mere flip-flops but important decisions that had to be done in Malaysia's best interest.

"Of course, at this stage, there are some matters which are not settled. Some issues, as you said, are the U-turns. But not everything was just U-turn sort of stuff.

"If certain policies need to be adjusted for the better of the country, then this is something that we need to do.

"And there are many issues, matters that need to be addressed. Not only the economy. We talk about the subject of race relations, which everybody is keen about [...] that the Malays, Chinese and Indians must live happily without any issue and not do something that will hurt others.

"And that is not a small matter […] it could involve certain policies that we have adopted [...] a certain way of doing things which was not practised by the previous government.

"We need to put this back into order. The education system must be placed in a much better position than it is now because it has created a bit of dissent and distance between the pupils and many (other) things.

"If you understand it, the scope is wide. I have been in the government for so long, then (during my time in BN) and now and I know it is not easy to do. More so if you want to move away from the old ways of doing things," he stressed.

Another factor that takes time is to keep the civil service in sync with new policies, Muhyiddin added. He said it was important for Putrajaya to make sure that the civil servants understand what they have to do.

"They are the implementors. (Although they are not) decision-makers, they are involved in formulating policies. Our civil servants are very good, but now that you feel that you need to move in a different way to improve, we need to tell them what to do.

"They have to go through certain training processes, to go for courses at Intan (the National Institute of Public Administration) and we have to give the input.

"This process takes time. You can't expect to do so much within seven months," he said.

Having been a cabinet member multiple times since 1995, Muhyiddin said Harapan's new ministers would also need time to adjust and improve their service performance.

He said the administration would eventually become more stable as its ministers gained more experience.

"We had seven months, obviously you said there were U-turns, that the (government) does not know what to do. This is trial and error but hopefully not many errors but more of a trial.

"But after a while, I do hope, like how I went through the government for so long, that you will settle down and become more stable.

"(By then) the ministers are more focused, they would have gained a bit more experience after one year, understand their portfolios and know what needs to be done and what are the priority areas.

"These are the things which I think we can expect from the next year onwards or so," said Muhyiddin. - Mkini