Nurul Izzah: Harapan needs a clear narrative, like Najib's

Pakatan Harapan should take note of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's strategy in forming a clear narrative to present to the rakyat, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar pointed out.

“(Look at) the contents of all the prime minister’s speech. Does he talk about his scandals? Does he talk about the investigations? He focuses on his certain narrative, he is trying to win the hearts of the rakyat.

“Our challenge is to give as clear an explanation as possible: we have been wronged, the country has been victimised, we need change.

“So if we can explain this clearly, I think it would be easier to prioritise this narrative to win the hearts of the rakyat,” Nurul Izzah said in a forum titled ‘Three-cornered fights: A win for Pakatan Harapan’ in Kuala Lumpur today.

She added that the people do not care about the problems of the politicians because they have their own difficulties to worry about.

If Harapan continues to be unclear with their narrative, it does not matter that they are being oppressed, as the rakyat would not be able to empathise with them, Nurul Izzah (photo) said.

Since 2015, Najib has been embroiled in financial scandals, such as the 1MDB issue and the RM2.6 billion found in his personal bank accounts. He has consistently maintained that he did not commit any wrongdoing in these matters.

Clear choices, clear policies

Meanwhile, DAP election strategist Ong Kian Ming believes that three-cornered fights in the general election would not hurt Harapan, despite what others have said.

He believes that to win multi-cornered fights in the elections, Harapan only needs to achieve two things.

The first is to give the rakyat two very clear choices, Ong said, citing a political science principle that voters tend to lean towards the two largest parties or coalitions.

“We have to let the voters know that if you want to keep the status quo, you vote for BN,

“If you want to change the status quo, there is only one option for you to choose, which is Harapan,” he said.

Analysts tend to refer to the results of the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections as examples of how Harapan will suffer in multi-cornered fights, but Ong (photo) said this was inaccurate.

He said that during those twin by-elections, the stakes were lower as no one was voting to change the state or federal government.

“But in the next general election, we have to make the stakes very clear cut; either BN or Pakatan Harapan,” he said.

The second thing Harapan needs to do is to give a clear alternative in terms of policies, Ong said, citing the example of the coalition’s alternative budget, which will be released in tandem with the government’s Budget 2018 next week.

'Road to Putrajaya is through the kampung'

Another panellist at the forum, Bersatu central committee member Tariq Ismail Mustafa, said the party is trying to pull support from Umno, but added that Umno members are “bipolar”.

“(If you talk) about issues, they do not care. But when you use emotions, then they will listen.

“Every time we ask them, how is the economy, what about the 1MDB issues, they will say ‘big keris, long live Umno’ (keris besar, hidup Umno),” Tariq quipped.

He also stressed the importance of reaching out to the rural Malay voters, and said that Bersatu could not do that by itself.

“We need to work together and get the message, 'Look, change can happen' across,” he said.

Amanah’s strategy director Dzulkefly Ahmad agreed with Tariq’s sentiment.

“The way to Putrajaya is still through the kampung and not through the highway,” he said, referencing the importance of rural seats.

Dzulkefly also believes that if Harapan can win 100 seats in the next election, it could convince Sabah and Sarawak to join them.

“There is a snowballing effect. The fact is, when you trigger the tipping point, anything above 100, we will get Sabah and Sarawak to come over to us,” he said.- Mkini