The Malaysian Insight

ABOLISHING the goods and services tax was the only notable change made by the Pakatan Harapan government, said Malay voters in a survey by pollster Ilham Centre and think-tank Penang Institute.

The voters, who took part in focus-group discussions from October 21 to November 21 last year, said they did not note other obvious changes after PH wrested Putrajaya from Barisan Nasional in the May 9 general election.

They also said the new government lacked effort to help the people cope with the high cost of living.

“It was only the removal of GST. The prices of most goods, petrol and toll rates have not decreased,” said Ilham Centre research head and fellow Dr Mohd Yusri Ibrahim, who shared the survey’s findings last night.

“This disappointed them.”

PH zero-rated GST for three months before scrapping it to make way for the sales and services tax last September, saying the prices of essential goods would be lower with SST.

The survey involved 125 participants – both men and women, including youth, from across the country – who shared their views on post-14th general election political developments.

Yusri said the group complained that the fall in palm oil, rubber and coconut prices affected their livelihoods.

“The drastic drop in commodity prices has had a huge impact on the community. The drop in income, coupled with the high cost of living, have made life harder for the people.

“With this happening after the change of government, the people now wonder whether PH is better or worse than BN.”

Other issues raised by the participants included the PH government’s move to withdraw the cost-of-living allowance for fishermen, who had long enjoyed handouts from the previous administration.

“They compared the new policies with BN’s, and said PH is not good at governing,” said Yusri.

“They said they are not seeing real effort by the government to help the people in the face of high living costs. This view was shared by almost all the participants.”

PH relied heavily on the support of non-Malay-Muslim and urban voters to win GE14. Most rural Malay-Muslim voters cast their ballots for BN and Islamist party PAS.

Ilham Centre found that only one out of five Malay-Muslim voters chose PH in GE14.

In the Malay belt states of Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Perlis, Selangor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan, between 60% and 90% of Malay-Muslim voters backed BN and PAS.

Last May, PH won 113 parliamentary seats, enabling it to form the government. The PH-friendly Parti Warisan Sabah won eight seats.

BN and PAS took 79 and 18 seats, respectively, with the rest won by independents and smaller parties.

After a spate of dramatic exits from BN, the former ruling coalition’s seat count was slashed to 39. PH gained an additional six seats following defectors’ move to join the pact.

Yusri said the economy was not the main factor influencing the way the focus-group participants voted in GE14.

“For those who didn’t vote because of the economy, their motivation was to reject then prime minister Najib Razak, who is linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal and corruption.

“For those who voted because of the economy, they are not regretting their choice. They think it is too early to judge PH. This view was shared by those from the central region.” – January 5, 2019.