PUTRAJAYA: The government must look into the people’s unhappiness, especially if it concerns the cost of living.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this in response to the Pakatan Harapan (PH)'s recent defeat in the Cameron Highlands by-election.
He said it was imperative for the government to find the reason behind the people’s unhappiness as it was the only way to tackle the issue.
"We need to know more about what they (the people) are unhappy about. We know (there are) many things (including) the high cost of living.
"The (high) cost of living for the rich doesn't mean anything, but for the poor it is a big problem," he told reporters after a closed-door session with the top management of federal statutory bodies here today.
The prime minister also said the government needed to find ways to reduce the cost of living and for the people to have better income.
He said the result of Cameron Highlands by-election on Saturday was not surprising as Barisan Nasional (BN) has a strong support based from voters in the rural areas.
"(BN’s) win was not surprising because the it was a rural area and the party played up racial issues...and that is too bad.
"But, that is the decision of the people and we accept it. We had a proper (by-)election. (There was) no hanky-panky. The result is according to the wish of the people," he said.
BN candidate Ramli Mohd Nor defeated PH’s M. Manogaran with a landslide 3,238-vote majority in the Cameron Highlands by-election.
I t was the first time the opposition party won in the five by-elections held since the general election on May 9 last year.
Ramli garnered 12,038 votes as opposed to Manogaran’s 8,800 votes, while independent candidates Sallehudin Ab Talib and Wong Seng Yee obtained 314 votes and 276 votes, respectively.
However, Dr Mahathir played down a view shared by a PH leader who said that a factor which contributed to the ruling coalition’s defeat was due to certain voters still thinking that Dr Mahathir was still with BN.
“That’s okay. They will eventually know,” he said, when asked about this view.
When commenting on the meeting with the top management of federal statutory bodies, he said the bodies needed to shoulder their responsibility of being a ‘mini version’ of the government.
"I tried to explain to the statutory bodies that they are similar to a mini version of the government. They must be responsible to manage things like a mini-government," he said.
Report by Azura Abas, Hashini Kavishtri Kannan, Mohd Husni Mohd Noor and Zanariah Abd Mutalib