COMMENT | Voters generally don’t trust politicians to keep their promises. Why? Politicians tend to over-promise and voters react more strongly to promises that were not kept than those that were.

Studies attribute such voter behaviour to “negativity bias”. Sort of damned if the party does, and damned if it doesn’t. A report published by Pusat Komas in 2020 shows this paradox.

Pakatan Harapan, for example, did deliver on some of its reformasi pledges outlined in its Buku Harapan, which raises a moot point – could Harapan have done more if it had served a full five-year term...