THE PAKATUNS AND DAPSTERS HAVE LOST THE PLOT

The Pakatuns and DAPsters do not matter in the bigger scheme of things. As a rule of thumb the market can be divided into 30:40:30, the ratio of those who are pro-opposition, fence-sitters and pro-government. So I would ignore the 30% from both sides of the political divide and just focus on the 40%. The Pakatuns and DAPsters are very upset with me because they think I am talking to them. Actually I don’t care two hoots about them because they are not going to decide the outcome of the next general election.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The game of marketing and advertising is the game of perception and positioning. For example, you position yourself as an anti-corruption advocate and create the perception that you are fighting against abuse of power and corruption and to see good governance, transparency, accountability, and so on. So you have to keep talking about this subject over and over again to sell yourself to the people.

One way of doing that would be to run down the other person or the other side. You keep selling the idea that the other person or the other side is the opposite to what you are trying to achieve. In other words, the other person or the other side is what we are tying to replace or get rid of. That means I am the one you need to choose as the replacement.

The opposition is actually an expert at this game because they have been playing this game for decades. But then they play to a captive audience so the selling is pretty easy. People already believe certain things so the market is more or less already secured. For example, Chinese politicians sell to a committed Chinese market while Malay politicians sell to a committed Malay market and so on. It is like going to a church to preach the word of Christ or going to a mosque to preach Islam. That does not need hard selling.

But try going to Afghanistan to preach Christianity to the Taliban or going to Middle-America to talk about Jihad and see whether you can still sell. Then we can see whether you are a good salesman or not.

The opposition preaches to the hard-core Pakatuns and DAPsters while Umno-Barisan Nasional preaches to the pro-government supporters. Are you not preaching to the already converted? You should cross into ‘enemy territory’ to try to convert those against you. Talking to those who will be voting for you anyway come hell or high water does not really help you gain any new ground.

I still receive many nasty comments every day without fail. Of course, these nasty comments are from the hardcore Pakatuns and DAPsters. What these people fail to understand is that I am not interested in them and they do not matter one bit to me. I am also not interested in the hardcore government supporters.

As a rule of thumb we can dissect the market into 30:40:30 (or even 40:20:40 if you want to be bearish). This means 30% of the voters are pro-opposition, 40% are fence-sitters, and 30% are pro-government (or 40% of the voters are pro-opposition, 20% fence-sitters, and 40% pro-government if you wish).

Since 2014 I have been repositioning Malaysia Today. In the past (2004-2010) I was talking to one market segment. Since 2010 I tried to reposition Malaysia Today as a third force and political but non-partisan. That did not work and I suffered a lot of abuse from the opposition people. After four years I gave up and in 2014 I repositioned Malaysia Today to talk to the fence-sitters.

Whether the fence-sitters are 20%, 30% or 40% does not matter. In the next general election seats are going to be won or lost with narrow 5% margins plus-minus. So all you need to do is to swing the fence-sitters and forget about those who are against you. And this is what those very rude and abusive Pakatuns and DAPsters do not understand. They come into Malaysia Today to curse and swear not realising that I am not talking to them and they do not matter at all in the bigger scheme of things.