The Malaysian Insight

RAFIZI Ramli will not get a podium finish in any Mr Likeable contest.

He can come across as full of himself, overly ambitious and the poster boy of a dysfunctional PKR.

As such, his statements are pounced on and slammed by a good number of Malaysians, who believe that there is a sinister motive for everything that escapes his lips.

And so, when he noted that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s approval rating has slumped some 20% from just after the watershed May 9 elections, the blowback against him was strong.

Some questioned the survey, while others wondered if he was floating these findings to push the case for Anwar Ibrahim’s quicker elevation to the country’s top job.

Pity, because by going down that road, we could be guilty of dismissing a valuable message because we abhor the messenger.

The fact is that a large segment of Malaysians is still feeling the hurt from the high cost of living. A good number voted for Pakatan Harapan with the expectation that their everyday existence would improve once Najib Razak and Barisan Nasional were ushered out of Putrajaya.

Seven months on, oil palm smallholders are feeling the pain of low palm oil prices, as are rubber smallholders and farmers.

The B40, or bottom 40% of households, group in urban centres is also feeling the squeeze of stagnant wages and rising costs.

While it is wholly unreasonable to expect Dr Mahathir and friends to turn around a drifting economy and remove moribund structures in months, the perception on the ground is that the new government has not hit the ground running.

The most uncharitable view is that many cabinet members are out of their depth and do not seem to have a finger on the pulse of the country.

That was a similar comment when BN was in power, and to its utter shock, cost the pact the government.

The PH government looks like it is failing – and we need to focus on that.

Even Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh has the same feeling as Rafizi, notwithstanding the PKR man making fun of the DAP man’s sentiments about the price of eggs and his lunches with Nurul Izzah Anwar and Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin.

His concern, apart from the economy, is that ally Bersatu is keen to accept defectors from Umno, the party that PH fought against in the May 9 polls.

“Because we are no different from Umno, if we can consider accepting the very people we voted out, all of whom, so far, are from Umno, into PH. It is like saying to the rakyat, ‘Thank you for your vote, but to hell with you. I have my own plans’,” he said today.

PH needs to pull up its socks. Winning the polls is not the prize. Running the country well and keeping the people’s support is the greater prize. – December 20, 2018.