LETTER | It has been thrown into the labyrinth of abyss with all sorts of obnoxious, offensive, ugly labels - from back-door government to illegitimate, undemocratic government with bloated non-performing, inept, inflated and dysfunctional cabinet members.

It has also been depicted as an utter mockery of the parliamentary and democratic process.

Right from Day 1 it took over power from Pakatan Harapan last year until to this date this article is written, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government under Muhyiddin Yassin continues receiving brickbats, with strings of endless accusations and condemnations, particularly from opposition members and the likes.

They keep coming in non-stop, especially through social media platforms.

Political stunts and charades by politicians and the Covid-19 pandemic made its administration and functionality, all the more difficult, intriguing and challenging.

Of course, all these litanies of accusations and condemnations are aimed at nothing but to cast doubts on PN’s functional structures as the government-of-the-day.

Yet, as a people-friendly and caring government, it perseveres and prevails, taking all allegations and manoeuvrings down in its stride in the seas of gigantic, mammoth hurdles and setbacks.

“We must be a government that knows what the people want,” said Muhyiddin when he took over as the country’s eighth prime minister and that’s exactly what he has been doing until today in reaffirming his firm commitments and obligations for the rakyat.

Despite the oddities, PN continues fighting to create milestones in so many ways in all fields, leaving the oppositions and the likes, indignantly bewildered and exasperated, but the majority of the rakyat, a happy and contented lot.

Close to its one-year anniversary, PN has, indeed, proven itself to be a functional government, with its targeted, lifeline focus and diverse responsibilities to safeguard lives and livelihoods of the people and bring back resilience to our economy which has been brought to a grinding halt by the pandemic.

PN’s functional structures in extraordinary time which compel it to call for extraordinary measures in the midst of tough, difficult times are proven in the endless aid packages and initiatives it has been given out since the start of Covid-19 last year.

All these government people-friendly policies and structures, undoubtedly, suggest its close embeddedness with the masses.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the government has carried out five economic stimulus packages worth more than RM330 billion to assist both rakyat and businesses.

Through monitoring and efforts by all ministries and agencies, millions of people and businesses have benefitted directly from the packages and further supporting the economic recovery efforts is the 2021 Budget which has allocated a total of RM322.5 billion, the largest in the country’s history.

Now on track in fighting the pandemic is the national vaccination programme which will be implemented over a period of one year starting next month.

Today, the prime minister became the first person to have been vaccinated in the year-old programme which will be done in three phases.

In a nutshell, it has been work, work and nothing but work for Muhyiddin and company since he took over office.

In their dictionaries, there is no such thing as a honeymoon.

To him, there is no need to talk politics when people are suffering and the economy is bad.

The political wheeling and dealing over the past one year of PN’s administration by oppositions and the likes, do not seem to have any bearing on the government’s functional structures and governance transparency.

Undoubtedly, all these wide-ranging policies, aid packages and political stance of PN are part of milestones it is able to create within one year of running this country.

The formation of PN itself as a new political coalition marks an important milestone in the country’s politics.

Then, the formation of its presidential council indirectly reflects Muhyiddin’s inclusiveness and open leadership.

Worthy of inclusion is the formation of the government’s special emergency council which also comprises opposition leaders.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong made a Proclamation of Emergency last month to curb the pandemic which numbers of positive cases and deaths have been soaring since last December.

The oppositions and other council members will decide when the emergency will end.

Then, the declaration of cabinet members’ assets to the MACC which has been made public on its website, the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) which was launched during Harapan’s administration, and the formation of a special cabinet to fight grafts.

All these and more are reflections of the milestones by a government, familiar and deeply embedded with the people.

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