KUALA LUMPUR: Director and actress Erma Fatima, whose popular comedy character Mak Cun often makes social commentaries, has spoken again.
This time around, the 50-year-old artiste said that the defeat of the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to the opposition Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in the recent Semenyih by-election was a “wake-up call” from voters.
“What happened in Semenyih was a reflection of the rakyat’s unhappiness with many issues confronting the nation, which the ruling coalition failed to resolve.
“The government must work harder to win back public confidence. Ministers who don’t perform should be replaced. The rakyat is worried. Sorry, this is an honest opinion from a rakyat,” said Erma in an Instagram post yesterday.
Last Saturday, BN wrested back the Semenyih state seat in Selangor from PH, nine months after PH won the seat in the 14th General Election.
BN’s Zakaria Hanafi garnered 19,780 votes and defeated his closest contender PH’s Muhammad Aiman Zainali who received 17,866 votes.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul finished third with 847 votes and independent Kuan Chee Heng fourth with 725 votes.
The Semenyih by-election was called following the death of incumbent PH assemblyman, Bakhtiar Mohd Nor, on Jan 11.
Erma’s fans and followers praised and admired her for stating her honest opinion.
Ain said: “Setuju dengan kak Erma. The ruling coalition needs to do something especially when it comes to bread and butter issues and social sensitivities”.
Feeda said: “The government must work harder to tackle corruption”.
Marcello said: “Must not keep empty election promises”.
Safura: “I agree with you. The voters expected better things, but things did not get better”.