Sin Chew Daily

In conjunction with the first anniversary of the PN government, prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin launched 'Setahun Malaysia Prihatin' in Putrajaya on Monday and delivered a keynote address to the nation.

A day earlier, in a joint media interview at his residence, the prime minister expressed his feelings for the past one year as well as future outlook for the PN government.

Time flies. ON the morning of March 1, 2020, Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as the country's eighth prime minister at Istana Negara, an eventuality few had anticipated after former PM Tun Mahathir suddenly quit on February 24.

Muhyiddin said in the interview he had never expected himself to be PM right from the start, and that he believed it was the Almighty's arrangement.

Muhyiddin put up his new cabinet on March 9 but for a very long time the ruling PN coalition was called a "back door" government by the opponents. However, the country could not go without a leader, and as the PM said, he took over at a time of difficulty.

As for the expanded cabinet and the fact that some MPs were offered government posts, he said it was an expedient strategy to stabilize the government.

In his national address yesterday, Muhyiddin made it very clear that a general election will be held as soon as the pandemic is under control so that Malaysians will get to decide who will form the new government, adding that he would not want to wait a minute longer.

Whoever that will lead the country in future, it is hoped that he will fix the country's bad political culture. Parties on both sides of the divide must come to the consensus that cabinet appointments must be based on meritocracy, not as a reward for allegiance. Besides, political frogs must be outright rejected lest the betrayal of a small group of opportunistic politicians rock the foundation of our nation-building. Additionally, whoever that helms the government must serve all Malaysians irrespective of race and religion to be a leader for all and not just for a specific community.

To be fair,racial controversies have been relatively few since Muhyiddin took over. He has on several occasions declared that he would not exploit racial issues to win voters' support and that he would be a prime minister for all Malaysians.

The global pandemic over the past one year has dealt a severe blow on the country's economy, affecting the day-to-day lives as well as the safety of the people. As such, his priority is to help mitigate the woes of the people.

Although the PM says he is satisfied with the country's performance in battling the coronavirus, statistics show that we still have a lot of room for improvement.

As of Monday, we registered more than 302,000 positive COVID-19 cases, about 0.92% of the country's population, slightly better only than the 1.49% global infection rate. We are still nowhere near success yet and still need to work much harder.

The PM should have realized that the situation is still tough and some of the T20 high-income household have now become M40, while there is an increase in the percentage of B4o households. He says the government will offer targeted assistance to the underprivileged and hardcore poor.

Despite an increase in poverty rate, the PM is still upbeat about the country's economic outlook this year, buoyed by the 5.5% growth projection by the IMF.

He also says a comprehensive national economic recovery plan will be unveiled later this month. The plan will take into account the overall economy as well as individual sectors such as the heavily battered travel industry.

Early last month, Muhyiddin made an official visit to Indonesia and has plans to visit UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, South Korea and Japan in near future. He says China is the biggest trading partner of Malaysia and the close bilateral relationship must be maintained. He believes face-to-face talks will maximize the effects of mutual cooperation.

No doubt the virus has had a major impact on the country's economy as well as the psychological health of Malaysians. A series of measures introduced by the government such as immunization program, SOPs and morale booster by the PM have all been tailored to defeat the virus.

Big talks aside, the PM should perhaps do something practical to help revive the economy. It is now time to travel abroad to strengthen our relationships with several major trading partners.