PKR eyes fence sitters in new GE13 campaign

By Shannon Teoh

June 13, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — PKR will launch the Demi Rakyat website today, ahead of a campaign to focus on the economy and social issues to convince fence sitters to lean towards Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the next general election expected within the year.

Taking a leaf from Barisan Nasional’s (BN) playbook, the PKR campaign will be led by celebrities who will focus on issues that the party believes are important to neutrals.

Screenshot of the demirakyat.org website.

“We are working on policies such as how to deal with a middle-income trap, wealth redistribution and perceived erosion of Bumiputera rights under Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” said a key party strategist.

The source added that while PR’s Buku Jingga dealt with day-to-day concerns of government, Demi Rakyat delves into the model of a PR government.

The Demi Rakyat campaign will likely be fully launched at the party’s national election convention in Shah Alam on Sunday, a publicevent that will showcase PKR’s key themes for the polls.

Located at demirakyat.org, the campaign appears to already have signed up personalities such as actor Abdul Kadir Abdul Manap, better known as Man Kadir, and singer-composer Mohd Khair Mohd Yasin.

“We have been talking to leading figures who are not politicians; but business people don’t want to be seen with us so it’s mainly celebrities,” the strategist told The Malaysian Insider.

The campaign also takes a leaf out of the Bersih rally planned for July 9 which, although backed by PR, is led by activists to increase its appeal to neutrals.

As of the beginning of this year, 610,731 new voters are up for grabs, having registered after the March 2008 polls. The Election Commission (EC) said Malaysia now has some 12 million voters, less than half of its 28.5 million population.

The first Bersih rally in 2007 calling for electoral reforms gathered as many as 50,000 demonstrators and was said to be a key factor in record gains by the opposition in Election 2008.

PR swept five state governments and denied BN its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament by securing 82 seats.

The party leader said PKR has been working on the campaign for over two months to ensure that it is the first to launch its election campaign and set the agenda.

“We’ve been planning this so we can build the momentum and go into the general election systematically and with stronger branding,” he said.

He added that after a few weeks of promotion and publicity, the Demi Rakyat will begin releasing policy documents to build discussion and momentum on issues that the opposition will focus on for the federal vote.