PH’s first year anniversary

Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan, first anniversary, manifesto

 

It has been a year since Pakatan Harapan (PH) became Malaysia’s ruling government. The coalition defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) in GE-14 by winning 121 out of the 222 parliamentary seats.

 

However, the first anniversary for PH government seems to be a burden rather than a celebration. People are bringing up the pledges PH made before the last general election.

 

For PH’s “10 promises in 100 days”, the government only fully fulfilled one (as of 28 May 2019). It is the abolishment of GST, which was then replaced with the reintroduction of SST.

 

The recent development on the promises also did not show any positive signs.

 

On May 16, PTPTN announced that they are considering bringing back the travel ban on loan defaulters. It received backlash from politicians and the members of the public.

 

On May 27, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that abolishing tolls will burden the government’s finance.

 

Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan, first anniversary, manifesto

 

Regardless, the media exposure on Harapan manifesto is low after PH’s first year anniversary is over. This means that the media did not associate the news on the upcoming PTPTN repayment scheme and Mahathir’s remark on toll abolishment with the Harapan manifesto.

 

Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan, first anniversary, manifesto

 

Focusing on the influencers of Harapan manifesto, it is noticeable that several key politicians are absent from the list, for example, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali and Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu. This indicates that these politicians made zero to little statements on the manifesto.

 

Besides Mahathir and Home Affairs Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, all the top influencers of Harapan manifesto are not cabinet members.

 

Are the ministers not talking about the manifesto on purpose?