People’s Election Agenda: Your views wanted

This updated People’s Election Agenda is a work in progress, not a finished document.

Its goal is simple: to help shape public conversation ahead of the remaining state elections and the general election, which must be held by early 2028.

The idea is to move the discourse away from divisive ethnic and religious rhetoric towards the issues that matter most to ordinary people. We want to get the politicians and their parties to focus on the most pressing issues that we feel voters are interested in.

The process started with updating what we wanted from the five main points in the original People’s Agenda, first launched ahead of the 2022 general election. The Aliran executive committee then updated the bullet points under each heading in the 2022 version of the agenda.i

In July 2026, members in Penang and the Klang Valley held a ‘teh tarik session’ at each venue – with others joining in online – during which we added more ideas.

In September 2026 Aliran committee members voted on these points to choose what we felt were the 10 most important points of concern to the people. These were then combined with other related points from the other points.  

The 10 most crucial points, with related points, are listed below. Those that did not make it into the top 10 are shown in the ‘Others’ list below the top 10.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Top 10 demands

1. Raise the minimum wage to RM2500, review it yearly and give employers tax relief. Improve pay and conditions for gig workers.
2. Decentralise education, transport, health, welfare and infrastructure to state and local level. Restore local and village elections.
3. Fix public healthcare with an independent commission. Double funding to 4% of GDP, provide more staff and hospitals, and subsidise GLC hospital fees.
4. Build an inclusive economy that creates jobs for lower-income groups, refugees, stateless people, migrant workers and people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
5. Close housing, education and welfare gaps with fairer university access, property taxes, childcare support, and care and services for older people.
6. Introduce progressive taxes and wealth taxes on the richest to narrow the wide wealth and income disparities.
7. Strengthen checks and balances by making the MACC independent. End political appointments to top government-linked company posts.
8. Tackle ethnic polarisation by replacing quotas with need-based affirmative action. End discrimination and protect religious minorities.
9. Ensure truly independent environmental, social and traffic impact assessments for larger projects, which means developers should not be selecting and paying consultants directly. Cancel unsustainable mega-projects and data centres.
10. Protect forests, hills, seas, rivers and water catchments, along with Indigenous land rights. Back solar power over nuclear.

Other demands

1. Repeal repressive laws, including Sosma, the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act.
2. Reflect diversity in all planning and policymaking.
3. Clean up political money with a political financing act and improve GLC financial transparency. Have a single pension for politicians. Provide equal constituency funds.
4. Overhaul public transport with an RM88 monthly travel credit in place of fuel subsidies. Improve bus services and pedestrian pavements.
5. Build a future-ready, sovereign economy through sustainable development, local science and AI capacity, with less reliance on food imports.
6. Use sport and music to bring communities together.

Aliran executive committee
18 October 2026

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