KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 5): The campaign period for the 15th general election (GE15) started officially with the nomination of the candidates on Saturday (Nov 5), but it cannot overshadow the everyday issues that the people face.

“The top priority would be socioeconomic well-being, which is rapidly deteriorating,” said BIMB Securities chief economist Imran Nurginias. “Therefore, expect the government to implement policies that include helping people ride through the high cost of living due to rising inflation.”

The new government is expected to calibrate macroeconomic policies to ensure strong growth, said Imran, with continued targeted policy support in the near term, while preserving policy space to respond to downside risks and accelerate structural reforms.

The expectation that the new government will focus on macroeconomic policies will include a relook at Budget 2023, which was tabled just prior to the dissolution of Parliament. This is because the budget was not passed by the House and does not bind the next government.

“Macroeconomic policies should be calibrated to address the sizeable economic slack, high uncertainty and medium-term scarring, while preserving policy space, given pandemic-related risks and development spending needs,” said Imran.

The rising cost of living has eaten into the people’s spending power, leading them to reprioritise their spending. For private dentists, this has meant falling income as people tighten their belts and put off optional dental care.

Therefore, the new government ought to make it a priority to address the issue of high inflation and high cost of living, said Lee Heng Guie, executive director of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry of Malaysia’s Socio-Economic Research Centre.

“[The new government should prioritise] measures to mitigate the impact of rising prices and high cost of living on vulnerable households. These include reviewing the effectiveness of current price controls to balance as well as protect the interests of consumers and businesses,” he said.

In GE14, the defeat of Barisan Nasional (BN) for the first time in Malaysia’s history can be attributed to Umno losing 26 seats in the peninsula, where its coalition partners also did not do well.

In total, BN lost 53 seats around the country to Pakatan Harapan (PH), Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) and PAS, as well as several independent candidates and Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku in Sabah.

Of these seats, 29 were held by BN in GE13 on a margin of more than 10%; for example, Semporna was won with a margin of 66.17%.

The candidate for Semporna was Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal in both GE13 and GE14, except that he was on different sides on each occasion. Shafie founded Warisan after he was removed from the Cabinet by the then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2015.

However, GE14 was a stiff fight between the three major coalitions (BN, PH and Warisan) and PAS-led Gagasan Sejahtera. This was seen when BN lost 28 of the 53 seats by a margin of 10% or less.

Can BN turn the tide and wrestle back at least these 28 seats that were lost in GE14 on a margin of 10% or less?

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