YOURSAY | Harapan had their chance, now they must work harder

YOURSAY | ‘They must regain the trust and confidence of the rakyat…’

Survey: Muhyiddin approval rating at 69pct, PN most popular

IndigoTrout2522: The Pakatan Harapan leadership must take this Merdeka Centre survey seriously.

The rakyat were tired of all the drama during Harapan’s 22 months of government. There was constant political furore which had nothing to do with economic development and bread-and-butter issues.

Harapan, in its false belief of democratic freedoms of speech, allowed its members to voice critiques of each other, their parties, and the government.

Those voices came to be viewed as internal conflicts, chaos, and confusion. The PKR leadership even allowed former party vice-president Azmin Ali and gang to defy its leadership and directives, leading to a perception of a lack of discipline.

Most of all was the hidden plan to hijack the Harapan government within the coalition.

Now, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) leadership won’t allow all that happened with Harapan to repeat itself. So the rakyat feel that things are more peaceful now.

Voters are always short-sighted and do not care about the long-term. Indeed, there were a number of ministers in PKR, DAP, and Amanah who performed very well but unfortunately, they were sidelined by senior party officials, especially former PM Mahathir Mohamad, who publicly scorned the Harapan manifesto and the transition plan.

It is now critical for the Harapan senior leadership to quickly entrust the younger leaders, MPs, and assemblypersons to work on strengthening their parties, instead of worrying about power and positions. They must regain the trust and confidence of the rakyat.

It is surprising that they are so out of touch with the people as indicated by their losses in so many by-elections. They were still leaning to Mahathir to be their saviour when he is not much a factor. He is more of a problem.

If the rakyat could see through Mahathir and the political landscape, why is the Harapan leadership so blind? Wake up before it is too late. It is no rocket science that unity is badly needed. Every day from now on is critical for its political survival.

Wee_R_Malaysian: I am disappointed. Muhyiddin’s approval rating should be 90 percent or more. Given that he has outperformed when there is no manifesto, it means he is a gifted person.

Under his stewardship, with government-linked company (GLC) positions handed out within the first 60 days, MPs were “persuaded” to follow his great cause and four state governments switched hands.

And MPs of “great calibre” were brought into the cabinet, some with very excellent credentials in drinking warm water, putting on make-up, and flouting the movement control order (MCO).

Enlighten: This popularity of Muhyiddin is a windfall from the Covid-19 pandemic, and not necessarily due to good work.

This is similar to Taiwan where the president and health minister are getting high ratings despite not doing much.

Sentinel: What's the difference between Perikatan Nasional (PN), BN, and Muafakat Nasional?

You came to power through treachery, and here's the sad part, any government in power would have had to do what you did in response to the pandemic. Just because of that, the electorate thinks that you're the best thing since sliced bread.

Karma: PN, BN, and Muafakat are confused coalitions. I am even willing to call Muhyiddin “daddy” if he kept giving me free money. The days Lim Guan Eng was finance minister and he said no more free money, he was condemned very badly.

Indeed, many Malaysians, especially the poor ones, are okay with former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak stealing government money because he shared the loot (source: Netflix's Dirty Money).

Hmmm: Merdeka Centre should also dis-aggregate 'bumiputera' data, not only by state and income/social class but also according to Malay, Orang Asli, and natives of Sabah and Sarawak.

Academics have already called for this many times. I don't know why Merdeka Centre persists in lumping everybody together under ‘bumiputera’. In doing so, they are feeding into Umno/BN/PN narratives.

Anonymous 5237890145285379: “It is apparent from Merdeka Centre's data that it conducts voter perception surveys monthly, but only conducts periodical public releases. The last release was dated July 26, 2019.”

Does this mean that only selective surveys are released? What’s the criteria for releasing the results?

Siva1967: I really wonder how these surveys are conducted and who their respondents are.

I have been following politics since I registered as a voter after turning 21 and never once have I received links for surveys. Neither was I interviewed randomly on the street to give my opinion of the government’s performance or comment on things that affect the nation.

Philmond: If Malaysiakini subscribers were the only survey respondents that mattered, then Harapan would have 90 percent approval rating. Sadly, we live in a silo or bubble.

There is a larger population out there that rightly or wrongly supports PN and Muhyiddin. I believe the survey by and large, even if the results don't gel with my way of thinking. That's democracy, folks.

If PN can avoid multi-cornered fights among themselves, Harapan is in for a thrashing. I don't want it to happen, but wishing about it ain't gonna change the facts.

Anak JB: After years of indoctrination and fear-mongering and putting them in a siege mentality, the majority race will only feel safe with a Malay leadership rightly or wrongly.

Imagine kleptocrats and the corrupt still ‘disanjung tinggi’ (highly respected).

Koh Re Ean: If the results are credible, other non-Malay races (this includes the bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak) will never ever be able to have their say in nation-building.

Alas, all those years of toil and sacrifices are blown to smithereens. God save us all.

GreenCarp8801: Let us wait for the next GE. We’ll wait to see the real truth - that the rakyat are actually not doing well.

Loss of jobs, salary cuts, disrespectful comments (on race and religion) - all are stressing good Malaysians out. - Mkini