IN THE 100 days since taking office, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has performed relatively well in handling the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn, observers and economists say.

In some ways, the situation may have even boosted his personal profile among some voters, but this shine has also been sullied by his Bersatu party continuing to engage in political manoeuvres for the survival of his razor-thin majority government.

While the administration under Muhyiddin has given some sense of direction and tough action on Covid-19 amid the economic uncertainty and fear of the coronavirus, the government’s measures so far lack clarity on long-term economic recovery, particularly deficit management after spending billions on stimulus packages.

Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional coalition government wrested power from Pakatan Harapan in late-February as the pandemic swept the globe.

He was sworn in on March 1 and in the same month, the daily infection rate in Malaysia rose to triple digits, with fatalities similarly climbing, leading to the enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) on March 18.

The MCO shut down the economy, with Putrajaya estimating losses of RM2.4billion a day. The Finance Ministry projected gross domestic product to contract by 2% this year due to the MCO, while Bank Negara Malaysia forecasted a contraction of 2% at worst, or a growth of up to 0.5% at best.

Economists have said the PN administration was able to manage reasonably well thanks to the country’s frontliners and civil service.

Senior Research Fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economy Research (MIER) Dr Shankaran Nambiar said Muhyiddin handled the health crisis well and had been able to provide a sense of assurance and stability, as reflected in the supplementary stimulus packages announced to complement the RM250 billion Prihatin economic package.

“While the second package lacked adequate measures to support SMEs, the third package attempted to redress this.

“More could have been done to support jobs, especially for those from the bottom 40 groups of households (B40) who do not hold civil service positions,” Nambiar told The Malaysian Insight.

“You could have wished for clearer direction on how the financial space and the deficit would be managed, but a strong answer was not forthcoming beyond mention that there would be a reallocation of funds within the ecosystem,” he said.

Nambiar also said the government should spell out its economic recovery plan for the long term.

The government could also have put on hold all mega infrastructure and connectivity projects, shelving them for 2021.

“Instead, the government faltered on the award of the 5G project, suggesting that some policies were not well thought out,” he added.

Executive director at Socio-Economic Research Centre Lee Heng Guie said the Prihatin stimulus package was the main focus of the crisis, adding that PN had managed the crucial task of managing Covid-19 and flattening the curve well.

“I think close to 95% of Prihatin has been implemented, and it is commendable that the Finance Ministry gives a weekly update on the initiative and a progress report,” Lee said, adding that PN does not have a manifesto against which to monitor its.

Lee noted that one opportunity lost was speedier tabling of the Covid-19 Temporary Measures Bill, which other countries had moved to introduce quickly.

Instead, Muhyiddin’s government limited the first meeting of Parliament for the year on May 18 to a two-hour affair purely for the Royal Address.

The bill will now be tabled in the July parliamentary meeting, the prime minister announced when unveiling the country’s short-term economic recovery plan or ‘Penjana’ on Friday.

Independent political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said, while the government has done well enforcing movement controls and social distancing, it has not done enough for welfare or the economy.

“Bantuan Prihatin Nasional and Geran Khas Prihatin are not going to be able to help B40, M40 and micro businesses weather the financial storm,” he said, referring to cash handouts and injections.

“The government does not appear to be at the forefront of addressing the issues. No parliamentary session to discuss the pandemic and implications is very disappointing,” he added.

Khoo said PN needs to face legitimacy issues and co-ordinate with all policy makers to address the pandemic from a health and economic standpoint.

“Job losses need to be addressed too. It is a distracted govt due to multiple political manoeuvres.”

Ilham Centre chief executive officer Azlan Zainal said the Covid-19 crisis helped propel Muhyiddin’s popularity amid the trust deficit of PN on the political front.

“He has a calm demeanour and speaks like a commoner when announcing the Prihatin economic stimulus package two months ago and the latest Penjana package, forming a new narrative of perceptions towards his government.

“But this is only temporary and may not be enough to eradicate the negativity towards PN,” Azlan said.

Job losses due to Covid-19 and the MCO are expected to hit 2 million, the Malaysian Employers Federation has estimated.

The most-impacted will be low and middle-income earners, as well as the self-employed.

Malaysia’s recovery will also be dependent on the external environment which includes factors like China’s own recovery and that of other advanced economies.

A major challenge is also to reconstruct the economy post-pandemic, as part of a long-term economic recovery plan, and this will need clear engagement, communication and articulation, the experts said. – June 7, 2020.