COMMENT | It has been slightly over a year since Anwar Ibrahim unexpectedly became prime minister through an unlikely alliance with Umno/BN and swinging the Sarawak bloc his way too.

With a handful of Bersatu MPs casting their support for him resulting in a two-thirds majority in Dewan Rakyat, he seems well entrenched to finish his full term in four years, bringing a semblance of political stability to the country.

Despite this, he faces one major problem - indications are that his popularity is waning among Malaysians - the latest opinion poll by Merdeka Center indicates his approval rating declined to 50 percent from 68 percent a year ago.

More tellingly, 60 percent of respondents said they believe Malaysia is going in the wrong direction, compared to 31 percent who think Malaysia is going the right way, indicating that the majority of people don’t think he is doing the right thing for the country.

Bloomberg, quoting the report said: “The ruling coalition’s overall rating has declined to 41 percent from 54 percent, with 78 percent of voters citing economic concerns as the biggest issue that they face. While Malaysia’s economic expansion accelerated in the July-September period, growth remained below the quarterly performance in the past decade, excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.”

By any standards, these are worrisome figures.