A MAJORITY of the almost 5,000 respondents polled over 24 hours on The Malaysian Insight’s social media accounts said they were dissatisfied with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

In the survey conducted on TMI’s Twitter account on Saturday, 93.9% of the respondents said they were not satisfied with PN for various reasons, including Malaysia’s decline on the World Corruption Perception Index, its bloated cabinet, the decision to impose a state of emergency in the country and alleged double standards in Covid-19 standard operating procedure enforcement.

Similarly, on Facebook, 89%, of 2,800 respondents answered the same.

Twitter user Mior Sharifuddin Mior Hamidi (@miors1994) said: “The country dropped six points in the 2020 World Corruption Perception Index to the 57th position.

“How on earth can the people be satisfied with this back-door government?” he asked.

Of the almost 60 replies, only a handful such as Michale Yi (@MichaleYi8) tried to defend PN saying: “We the people are very satisfied with the current government”.

On Facebook, however, there appeared to be stiffer defence of the PN government, especially one PAS supporter.

The Facebook user Pak Andak said: “Only stupid Malays don’t like PN because it doesn’t suit the opposition.

“The enemies of Islam are waiting for Muslims to split up. There is no party as good as PAS as it wants to save Muslims from hell. All the others are just looking after their own interests. Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) 22-month administration is the worst.”

But the majority of the 32 comments also felt that PN had not governed well, particularly in handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minority government

Ilham Centre executive director Hisomuddin Bakar said the dissatisfaction stems from PN’s loss of confidence among lawmakers and the ensuing emergency proclamation on January 11.

“PN has failed to combat the perception that it only called for an emergency to save itself politically.

“The excuse PN gave for calling a state of emergency, to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, is hollow. At the same time, the coalition is fraught with internal conflicts between the main parties Bersatu and Umno,” said Hisomuddin.

The perception against PN was made worse by what happened in Kedah when the PAS-led government cancelled the Thaipusam holiday in the state, he added.

“Non-Malays are most affected by the Kedah PAS statements that have rocked racial harmony in the country as a whole. This has never happened before.”

Hisomuddin said the biggest problem for PN is its inability to address economic issues brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The current government is insensitive to the rising costs and loss of jobs. PH, on the other hand, had prioritised cost of living issues and even formed a special cabinet committee on this under the former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail,” said the pollster.

“But after PH’s collapse, there appears to be no serious efforts to tackle cost of living issues.”

Universiti Teknnologi Malaysia’s Mazlan Ali said a lot of the dissatisfaction with PN stems from the alleged double standards that exist for VIPs and the rest of the country and its handling of the current movement-control order (MCO).

“Although we have had almost three weeks of MCO, new Covid-19 cases are still climbing.

“PN has to come up with new strategies to bring down the numbers,” said Mazlan. – February 1, 2021.