Mohd Sheriff Kassim, former secretary-general of the Treasury, is among those who are hopeful. He foresees improvements in terms of accountability and transparency among the government and PH.

“This means that all the government’s initiatives will be implemented in a more transparent and accountable manner, and there will be less opportunity for abuse of power and corruption.

“This is important as the country is in dire need for recovery, economically and socially,” he told Bernama after participating in a virtual roundtable on the New Economic Policy yesterday.

The former high-ranking civil servant stressed that he was now more confident about the country moving ahead compared to just a few days ago.

“I see light at the end of the tunnel … something new for the country.”

In addition, Sheriff noted that although the country is facing the worst crisis in living memory, the people should feel grateful that there are signs of progress for Malaysia to recover from the pandemic and that people can slowly return to normal life.

On Monday, both the government and PH created history for the country with the signing of the MoU on political stability and transformation, paving the way for a new political landscape based on bipartisan cooperation.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the six-point MoU establishes bipartisan cooperation and upholds the spirit of the “Malaysian Family”.

The MoU covers the areas of strengthening the plan to fight Covid-19, transformation of the administration, parliamentary reforms, ensuring judicial independence, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), and formation of a steering committee.

One of the details underlined in the MoU is for Parliament not to be dissolved from now until July 31, 2022.

According to Sheriff, Malaysia is considered quite lucky, given that certain economic sectors are doing well, namely primary commodities like crude oil and crude palm oil, manufacturing and medical equipment.