The Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the rising cost of living are among the factors that lost Barisan Nasional votes in Rompin, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The former prime minister denied his influence caused the decrease in Barisan’s majority and said such bread and butter issues had really hit the people hard.
“I am not a factor.
“The people in Rompin are more concerned about issues like GST and cost of living. Issues like 1MDB don’t mean a thing to village folks they don’t know what it is. They cannot even imagine how much RM42bil is, to them RM1mil or RM1bil is the same.
“However, the people’s purchasing power has gone lower today, and they are hit further by the GST, which reduces their income,” Dr Mahathir told reporters after speaking at the 19th Perdana Discourse Series at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here Wednesday.
Dr Mahathir said the Barisan government has a lesson to learn from Rompin, especially regarding the people’s plight.
“Increasing minimum wage to solve this problem might cause cost of living to go up. “The Government needs to figure out what to do and Rompin has taught them,” he said.
Barisan won the Rompin by-election on Tuesday, but with a reduced majority from the last general election.
On Barisan’s chances in the Permatang Pauh by-election, Dr Mahathir said Pakatan Rakyat would win with a slimmer majority despite its infighting.
“I think it will be hard for Barisan to win, even though the Opposition is split.-thestaronline
“The Opposition will still win, but with a smaller margin,” he said.
