Perikatan Nasional vows to create 1 million jobs if elected

Perikatan Nasional (PN) has vowed to create a million jobs if it wins the 15th General Election. More specifically, PN's chairman Muhyiddin Yassin (pictured) said the one million jobs will be "high-income opportunities", Channel NewsAsia said. During the launch of PN's manifesto yesterday, Muhyiddin also claimed that his government created 558,000 jobs last year when he was prime minister.

According to the Department of Statistics, Malaysia had 202,102 job openings in the second quarter of the year and 46,283 companies were hiring. The highest job vacancy was advertising and marketing with 15,211 openings followed by administrative associate professionals with 8,211 vacancies. Kuala Lumpur was the top hiring state followed by Selangor, Johor, Penang, and Melaka.

PN's manifesto covered 12 pillars in total with 30 strategies and 234 offers. Among the pillars included environmental sustainability, reducing the development gap, optimising the potential of women, and improving governance, CNA said. Muhyiddin said that if elected, PN would discuss ways to solve the rising cost of living during its first cabinet meeting.

(Read also: Malaysia GE15 social chatter: Which political parties and brands are trending?)

PN is a coalition comprising Bersatu, PAS, Gerakan, Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku, and Parti Progresif Sabah. Malaysians will go to the polls on 19 November and in the lead-up to that, statistics from CARMA Asia showed that PN has the third most share of voice (21.9%), with Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan coming in first and second. Meanwhile, Milieu Insight's survey found that individuals aged 25 to 34 were the most familiar with PN (55%), followed by those aged 45 to 54 (53%).

Although Muhyiddin might be the former PM, CARMA Asia found that he does not command a large share of voice compared to other politicians including Zahid Hamidi, Ismail Sabri, Anwar Ibrahim, Najib Razak, Mahathir Mohamad, and Rafiz Ramli.

Meet Asia’s top PR and communication leaders in-person. PR Asia sets the stage for the future of purpose-driven contemporary PR. Join us on 9 November as we gather Asia’s top PR and communication practitioners in-person in Malaysia. Deep dive into the next necessary steps for PR as we head towards 2023. Only at #PRAsia.