PETALING JAYA: A public survey on Malaysians’ perception of the Pakatan Harapan-led government’s performance after four months in power revealed that the majority of respondents are positive about how things are being run.
Conducted by Berkshire Media, the survey involved 487,000 respondents nationwide, most of whom said they were “satisfied with the government,” said Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, adding that there were also negative comments.
Speaking to reporters after chairing the PH presidential council meeting here today, Dr Mahathir, who is also the Prime Minister, said that negative perceptions were mainly linked to the government’s decisions on expenditure for transport and infrastructure projects like the Mass Rapid Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit systems.
"(Respondents also expressed dissatisfaction) with the government's fight against corruption, as many previous government leaders have not yet been brought to court," he added.
In response, Dr Mahathir said that the people must understand that the process of charging individuals with a crime takes time, as evidence needs to gathered and presented first, before the matter can be brought to court.
"In the beginning, we focused on big corruption cases, not on small ones. But now, we will also focus on small cases," he said.
Asked to comment on PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s allegation that two cheques worth RM9.5 million were issued by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the lawyer who led the prosecution team in Anwar Ibrahim’s 2015 appeal against his sodomy conviction, Dr Mahathir said that there are many allegations against Najib.
"We have to choose which case to proceed with first. Now, there are two cases against him, but there are many more and it will take time. We need to get the facts right, like documents to support the case," he said.
To a question if he is satisfied with his Cabinet ministers, Dr Mahathir said, "I am never satisfied. But, I must admit that for certain reasons, we could not deliver everything promised within 100 days," he said.
He added that the damage in the government machinery is much worse than he had imagined, and there are some civil servants who still do not want to implement policies approved by the new government.
"There are some officers who are still loyal to Najib Razak," he said, adding that there are some who will not accept new appointments by the new government.
"These officers are still influenced by the previous government and we had to move some of them to other positions, or drop them," the prime minister added.