Don’t overestimate support, opposition parties told

All opposition parties must be realistic and must also understand the true reality on the ground, said Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s strategy and policy bureau head Rais Husin.

Although he did not mention any names, Rais said opposition parties, be it DAP, Bersatu, Parti Amanah Negara or PKR, need to understand their constituents.

“Overestimating support for themselves will make them complacent.

“If that happens, come the general election, the reality will bite and the pain will be felt vehemently,” he said in an interview with Malaysiakini.

Citing one party which claimed that it had a considerable amount of support from the Malays, Rais said this would only make the party complacent.

“Come post-election day, the one who is going to be hurt the most is you, your party. Not only are you hurting the party, you are hurting the people as a whole.

“For the first time ever, people are really hoping for change. If you fail the people, shame on us,” he added.

Asked whether the problem was faced by all opposition parties, Rais said parties which had conducted sufficient research understood the things that needed to be done.

“Some of them who have an extra dosage of wishful thinking, they are in the area of complacency.

“They need to understand that we cannot afford to be complacent anymore. For once, let us understand the ground reality and work on it.”

Unbiased research needed

Elaborating further on research conducted by opposition parties, Rais pointed out how some had their own research houses who conducted their own which may in turn be biased.

“So we need to get independent research houses to do research. A quick one with reasonable sample to gauge support.

“Otherwise you can’t work on numbers that are not there to be supported by the ground reality,” he added.

So, what has Bersatu been doing when it comes to ascertaining support for the party?

Rais said it had conducted independent research to establish facts on the ground and would share the research work with other parties in the coalition.

Findings of Bersatu’s maiden research, which was conducted by seven professors from local universities, will be released beginning next week, he confirmed.

The research, titled, “What Malaysians Want”, involved 20 focus group discussions, with each group consisting of 10 people. The research sample included Malaysians from various professions, political affiliations and different races.

Findings of the analysis found several emerging themes which were later developed as research instruments and later administered to 3,000 respondents.

'Understand the Malay psyche'

Meanwhile, Rais stressed how it is especially important to understand the Malay psyche and to debunk the belief that Umno is the only champion for the Malays and that DAP is the leading partner in the coalition.

For the latter, Rais pointed out how it was simply “mathematically and demographically impossible”.

“But the problem is, this is what the BN media is trying to portray,” he said.

Citing a video released by Umno information chief Annuar Musa on BN purportedly being pro-rakyat while Pakatan Harapan was pro-DAP, Rais said it had been branded as such despite Harapan consisting of three other parties.

“These three parties in terms of membership is bigger than DAP. So how can they say DAP will be the leading coalition?

“And Selangor and Penang have been under the opposition for two terms, while Kelantan for years. Do we see Malays dying there?”

Denouncing the unethical politics of fear practiced by BN, he said the ruling coalition was not known for being gentlemanly.

“You cannot expect that from Umno but at the same time we cannot be complacent because they will do anything it takes to win.

“If we are complacent then it’s the end for us.”

The opposition, especially the DAP and PKR is known for obtaining most of its support from voters in the urban and semi-urban constituencies.

With PAS no longer in a pact with DAP and PKR, Malay support for the opposition has splintered.

And with Amanah and Bersatu in the fray, it might prove a challenge for Harapan parties to wholly agree on dividing the necessary seats among themselves.- Mkini