HERE are the choices for Malaysia’s upcoming general election (GE). 

A minimum basic income of RM2,208 for each household, toll-free rides on the North-South Expressway, one million new jobs, and another public holiday are among items listed in the three biggest coalitions’ manifestos to win over a majority of the 21.1 million voters casting their ballots on November 19. 

While voters go through the manifestos from Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN), analysts say promises alone are not enough to win votes, and that the coalitions must have competent leaders to fulfil their offers and carry out promised reforms.

Voters look at candidates, parties over manifestos

Ilham Centre director Hisomudin Bakar said based on studies, only 10% of voters would read election promises before casting their votes.

“It is a minimal chance that voters will vote based on the promises. Only a small number of voters would take the time and study the manifestos before going to the polling stations.

“Our people will vote based on the candidates and political parties,” he said. 

In backing up his claim, Hisomudin said even PH leaders are not using its manifesto in many of its public speeches.

“PH was the earliest to announce its manifesto but ironically, its members don’t talk about it in the ceramah. Either the candidates do not read or they don’t know. 

“PH leaders are still using political rhetoric to get attention and this is the irony,” said Hisomudin. 

Universiti Malaya academic Awang Azman Awang Pawi said PH has a more detailed and reliable manifesto than both of its rivals – PN and BN. 

Awang Azman and Hisomudin agree that BN and PN have made moderate offers. 

“If you go through each page, you can see that PH made very detailed offers on what it plans to do if it wins. As for BN, it made realistic offers, but some were not so transparent … the explanations were not enough. 

“But as mentioned by many, the majority of voters wouldn’t care to read the offer and are more interested in listening to rhetoric, accusations and political gossip,” he added.

Manifestos alone insufficient

Emir Research’s Rais Hussin said for Malaysia to be on the right track, it needs to have trustworthy and competent people helming key organisations and institutions that are independent and empowered.

He said these key organisations must operate in a transparent governance ecosystem and use transparent systems.

“They must be governed by a clear input-output-outcome-impact model for effective monitoring and enforcement of strict timelines and key performance indicators.

“Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what politicians write in their election manifestos if it doesn’t puruse to key institutional and structural reforms, which are essential for the successful implementation of these promises,” said Rais.

The researcher added that it is easy for rival political parties or coalitions to up the ante on who can make better offers without binding commitments, and without detailing how their policies and action plans will be sustainably funded or properly implemented.

“For example, how exactly will one million high-paying jobs be created? Economic growth, a fair business ecosystem, and strong governance are intertwined.

“How will free education, electronic goodies, and 100% 5G coverage be financed and implemented?

“Given that politicians seem hung up on the use of statutory declarations (SDs) as a sign of political support, then perhaps so should the election manifestos be signed with SDs that are made public before election day. 

“Even then, some might say SDs are not binding contracts, similar to the notion that an election manifesto isn’t a Bible,” he wrote in a lengthy article. 

The three coalitions revealed their promises this past week, with BN making one of its most ambitious election manifestos in the coalition’s history by pledging to top up the monthly income of all households to at least RM2,208 a month. 

BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also promised a socialist-style approach by proposing free higher education for B40 families and a parliamentary oversight committee to appoint key officials such as the heads of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Election Commission. 

PH, on the other hand, continues its vow to fight against corruption and strengthen Malaysia’s democratic institutions – a promise that was similar to the one in its manifesto for the 2018 elections. 

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim – a self-styled people’s champion – also pledged to eradicate poverty in the country and once again promised to eliminate tolls on the North-South Expressway if PH is granted the mandate to govern the nation again.

PH and BN shared similarities as the two political enemies agreed to create a parliamentary select committee to elect key officials, as well as guarantee citizenship for children born overseas to either a Malaysian mother or father. 

PN, which formed the government for 18 months before it collapsed in 2021, promised to create one million job opportunities for Malaysians and vowed to solve bread-and-butter issues faced by the people.

Its chairman Muhyiddin Yassin, who had previously claimed to be a “Malays first” leader, attempted to entice Malay and rural voters away from Umno and possibly from Pejuang, led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, pledging to defend the constitution, uphold Islam as the religion of the federation, and protect the rights of all races. 

However, Muhyiddin’s declaration of a public holiday if PN wins the GE made more headlines than his speech. – November 9, 2022.