The heat of the upcoming general elections is going upscale. From Penang to Klang Valley, people are enthusiastically talking about the wind of change. An online researcher called me up today and mentioned a possibility that this election, to a certain extend, contains similar sentiments like the one in 1986.

Two things are similar: first, there are some negative sentiments against the ruling coalition especially on the lack of direction on economy and a possible slowdown. In 1986, the economy was suffering from recession due to a global downturn. Currently, the economy should be flourishing but yet we are registering a mediocre growth rate of 5-6 percent. High oil and commodity prices should have spurred the domestic economy ahead but we are not witnessing such dynamism.