COMMENT | There’s been a fair bit of debate of late on Pakatan Harapan’s 14th general election (GE 14) manifesto.

This may be a good time to take a close look at what, in Malaysia at least, an election manifesto is and isn’t.

Let’s start with the "isn’ts".

I’d say that for most intents and purposes, the first and foremost "isn’t" is "something people read".

Obviously, some people do read the manifesto. I would hazard to say that the only Malaysians who read election manifestos closely from cover to (considerable) cover are the politicians and journalists.

Frankly, it doesn’t usually make for very gripping reading. Out of every point in the manifesto, there are maybe two or three things that matter a lot to you, and maybe five to 10 things that have any kind of effect at all on your day to day life.

One way to test this is, of course, via (an admittedly unscientific) straw poll. Have you read all or even most of the manifesto? How many people do you know who have read the manifesto?

If people are not reading the manifesto, then we have to question exactly how much influence the manifesto, as a whole, has an influence on the elections.

Of course, there are a few key points within the manifesto that become major talking points and core campaign issues.

However, that leaves very many more points that people may not know or care about - at least until someone tells them to.

Not a manifesto in the old, traditional sense...