KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Addressing the need of young Malaysians to earn a decent living will determine how they vote in the general election, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon has said.
The Gerakan president said that an electoral win for Barisan Nasional hinged on the coalition’s success in providing long-term solutions in this area for young Malaysians.
“The economic pressure is felt by the young, new couples... this burden will be the main consideration in voting trends,” he told reporters here.
Koh (picture) pointed out that the government’s current economic transformation programme should be “inclusive”, and that there should be equal distribution among all Malaysians, especially low-income earners.
The former Penang chief minister said challenges facing the economy should be given priority, and that political challenges were a secondary concern.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) yesterday he was not comfortable calling for elections yet as the government must show his economic reforms are producing real results.
“Essentially, it’s a call you have to make on the basis of a feel-good factor, and that’s when you press the button. But of course at the end of the day it’s a rather intuitive decision,” the WSJ reported him as saying in its interview.
Speculation has been rife that Najib will be pressured to call for a general election soon due to the worsening global economy.
But the federal opposition has ramped up attacks against his administration in recent months, highlighting alleged wastages of federal funds in government projects.
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