'Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia' tops Google’s year in search

Iklan
Photo for illustration purposes only - 123RF
SHAH ALAM - If results from the biggest search engine in the world are anything to go by, it seems that most Malaysians had the recent general elections, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and the World Cup on their minds throughout 2022.

Google's Year in Search compiles trending searches across various categories that are of interest to Malaysians specifically throughout the year.

According to this year's list , overall results in the country were topped by searches for General Election information and results, with MySPR semak, coming in as the second most searched key word followed by Keputusan PRU-15 ( general election results) and My Undi in the fourth and fifth place.

Malaysians have had a tumultuous year politically, with its tightly contested general election ending in a hung parliament for about a week as no party had a clear majority to form the government. A unity government was later formed which saw the coalition led by current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim align itself with its former nemesis Barisan Nasional.

Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition secured 82 seats in the 222-member parliament while former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Malay-based Perikatan Nasional (PN) trailed behind with 73 seats. While Barisan Nasional had only managed to secure 30 seats.

With the shadow of a recession and economic slowdown looming large over the better part of the year,it's hardly surprising that the number one trending search term for Malaysia on the platform was " Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia" .

The financial aid for low- income households introduced by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri aimed to provide financial relief of RM2,000 a month to eligible recipients, households with three or more children, earning less than RM2,500 a month

Under the program single mothers and fathers who make less than RM5,000 a month would also receive an additional aid of RM500 monthly,

Such search trends hve shown the impact that the recent elections and political instability has had on the country with many forced to seek ways to bolster their bank balances, and others struggling to get by.

All is not doom and gloom however as the top ten key words searched included the "Qatar World Cup" , "Wordle" and "Mental Age Test" in the third, sixth and tenth place, showing that Malaysians indeed had a little time for fun and leisure despite a grim year.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim came in eighth place as the most searched keyword followed closely by the late Queen Elizabeth in ninth place.

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in British history and an icon instantly recognisable to billions of people around the world, she passed at her Scottish Highland retreat on Sept 9 this year.She was 96.

Here are Google's 2022 year in search for Malaysia at a glance, in first place is Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia, followed by My SPR Semak, Qatar World Cup, Keputusan PRU 15 ( general election results), My Undi, Wordle, Peranti Siswa, Anwar Ibrahim, the late Queen Elizabeth and mental age test.