KUALA LUMPUR - Pakatan Harapan's crushing by-election defeat in Johor last weekend has cast the spotlight on its unfulfilled election promises, and despite it forming two committees to track those pledges, Malaysia's ruling coalition appears far from appeasing voters.

Days before the by-election in Tanjung Piai, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told reporters that the administration's priority, from its long list of manifesto pledges made last year, was to combat corruption.