Slowing Malaysian economy could be a challenge for new regime

MALAYSIA - or "new Malaysia"- marked its first 100 days on Aug 17 under the Pakatan Harapan government led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad since it wrested the ruling power from the Barisan Nasional coalition at the polls in May.

The reviews of the new regime's initial showing over this milestone-period have been pouring in and all in all, in terms of the "tangibles" there have been more misses than hits as certain measures are still work in progress. One election pledge that has been fulfilled is the scrapping of the unpopular Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The intangible positive outcomes too deserve mention. The once-bruised public faith and trust in the country's key public institutions is on the mend while the laundering of multi-billion dollars from state-backed 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is being dealt with head-on and no longer being swept under the rug.