DESPITE a lack of clarity on some issues and unkept promises in its first 100 days, those who voted for Pakatan Harapan in the recent general election are largely forgiving even though some decisions have brought personal repercussions.

But they also have no qualms about voting out PH in the next elections if the new government does not meet their expectations.

Muhammad Zafir Hamdan, for example, would have been a civil engineer working on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project had the new government not decided to review the RM55 billion project.

Instead, the 24-year-old Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia graduate is a Grab car driver.

“Ada rezeki lain (There’ll be other opportunities),” said Zafir who lives in Batu Berendam, Malacca.

He reasoned that the contractor would want to cut costs after Putrajaya suspended the project in July. China Communications Construction Sdn Bhd (CCC-ECRL) terminated its workers from non-critical departments the same month and offered salary cuts and no-pay leave to others.

Zafir said although he lost the chance to work on the project, he did not regret voting for change at the federal and state levels. His home state, Malacca, is one of the states that voted Barisan Nasional out for the first time.

“I know it’s still early and things are not too bad. We badly needed change,” he said, referring to the corruption that plagued the previous government.

Asked to rate the PH government in its first 100 days in power, Zafir said the new regime was “satisfactory” despite several gaffes by its ministers.

The way the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) issue was handled is one example. The government, after promising to allow borrowers earning less than RM4,000 a month defer their loan repayments, has not been able to implement it.

“I saw the statements on the PTPTN payment deferrals. I don’t mind repaying but it would be better if they focus on making education free at the tertiary level in public universities.”

For provision goods salesman, Lim Jia Wei, the new government was neither good nor bad yet.

Other than abolishing the goods and services tax (GST), Lim said PH hasn’t had the chance to do much on the national level as it uncovered more scandals.

Lim said his sales at provision shops has improved since GST was zero-rated but he is unsure of how the sales & services tax (SST) will affect consumers. 

“The GST covered too many goods and those earning lower incomes had to cut their consumption. Let’s hope that SST doesn’t do the same,” said Lim who supplies provision shops around Bandar Melaka.

At the state level, Lim said the new government had already announced several initiatives, although most did not affect him.

“One of the things they have introduced is free parking in the state on weekends. But that’s a small matter only,” he said.

Another one of the initiatives is letting leasehold property owners renew their leases to 99 years, said Lim.

“But my house is only 10 years old. So, I won’t take that up either.”

Lim said he voted for PH because of the allegations of widespread corruption under the BN administration.

He would give PH up to three years before reviewing their performance. 

“I was sick of the corruption and as such I’m not too concerned over new initiatives now. Going into the future, I hope they will show how they improved our economy and provided better opportunities,” said the 34-year-old.

For Zafir, he said that PH still have people on their side as Malaysians are a “patient” lot.

“But unlike my parents’ generation, I am not tied to any party. I voted for change in the last elections because there was something wrong. 

“And I will vote against the current government if it, too, doesn’t perform or fulfil its promises,” he said. 

Malacca was one of five other states (Kedah, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johor) that fell to PH on May 9. Negri Sembilan and Johor also voted out BN for the first time. – August 15, 2018.