Kuala Lampur, April 10 -- A recent forum at Universiti Malaya's Ungku Aziz Centre cut through the usual fiscal chatter to expose a deeper malaise in Malaysia's political economy. 

Yes, the government's focus on narrowing the fiscal deficit is a recognised imperative. But as scholars and analysts underscored, a more insidious and potentially devastating gap is widening: the trust deficit. 

While the former concerns ringgit and sen, the latter corrodes the very foundation upon which economic policy is built - public belief in the system's fairness, efficiency, and ultimate purpose.

This dissonance is perfectly crystallised in the confounding reality of official low inflation versus the palpable agony of high living costs. ...