LETTER | Here is the Hope of Change that all of us want from the Pakatan Harapan government.

Twenty months have passed since the Harapan successfully took over the federal administration for the first time in the history of Malaysia. Back then, all of us were very excited and happy, confident that a big changes and progress are going to happen in this nation.

We also hoped that the manifestos of the Pakatan Harapan shall be delivered in the next few years, before GE15, and most of us thought that things would be much better with the change in the transition of power after the May 2018 general election.

But has the federal government ever wondered why it has lost continuously in the five recent by-elections? Most of the people have been saying that there is a lot of disappointment with the current administration. But what sort of disappointments are we talking about?

The disappointment on the rise of daily expenses, where the B40 and M40 have to bear in their daily lives. It is very heartbreaking to see when the government decided to announce that it is going to abolish the subsidies for the fuel prices and stating that only certain small group of the marginalised community shall enjoy the fuel subsidies, which will be banked in to them every three months.

However, such decision was to put on halt up till further notice. But if we look back at the Harapan manifesto released before the election, this was not the case. A certain politician has promised that the petroleum price shall be lowered down to a price of RM1.50 per litre. Sadly, until today, such a thing has not been fulfilled.

Next, let's talk about the education system in our country. Although the minister of education has stepped down recently and the prime minister has taken over the portfolio, a lot of people are really confused with the decisions made in the Education Ministry. From the controversies of the black and white shoes to the Jawi issues and also the recent directive on the Ponggal celebration, it seems like the ministry has failed to promote the diversity of unity for the whole nation.

I really hope that our Ministry of Education can adapt the Finland education system, together with some elements of the Singapore education system, and synchronise for Malaysia, to ensure that our children are ready to be prepared for the Industry Revolution 4.0 instead of debating on religious and multicultural issues which are one of the least important things in the world.

Moving on, with the recent restriction on the smoking ban from the Ministry of Health, has the government not thought of setting up designated areas for the smokers' community to smoke, like how the Singapore government has done? Although, I do support the banning smokers from public eateries, let us not forget that the smokers are also voters who voted for the current ruling government. Thus, preparing a designated spot for them to smoke is a right as well.

I also felt quite sad to see that the government is removing certain allowances for the new staff taken into public hospitals and clinics from the beginning of this year. It is also well noted that although this issue has been brought up to the cabinet and a memo has been delivered to clarify this matter, such decisions also cause the voters to lose trust in the current administration because they have no clear directions of where this government is heading. It is well known that all our public hospitals are understaffed and cutting down on the expenses on manpower in the hospitals will actually demotivate the entire medical staff nationwide in working better for the public.

During the early days of my parents time, the Malaysian ringgit was on par with the Singapore dollar, but today the value of our cash has fallen tremendously and cannot be compared with our neighbouring country. The grassroots have been asking in the coffee shops as to what steps the government has taken to ensure that our currency is going to be back on par with our neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Brunei, soon?

Besides, before the GE14, our current prime minister stated that he is going to pass the baton to his successor before the end of his term, but until today, all of us are not able to see a clear definitive date of when he is going to step down and pass the duties to Anwar Ibrahim.

Last but not least, although the former prime minister of Malaysia is currently undergoing multiple court trials, all of us are wondering when the verdict will be delivered and whether he will really be put into prison. If he is going into prison, then when will the court issue the imprisonment verdic? Can the court speed up the process of the cases matters as they are of very huge interest among the local people and the international media?

My conclusion is that if this Harapan government takes steps to rectify all these issues, it will be able to, slowly, get back the confidence of the citizens if it is to win again in the next general election. Otherwise, it would have seriously failed the voters with its overpromises and constantly reversing the decisions that have been passed by the cabinet.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.