Harapan needs to retake narrative from ‘de facto opposition’ Najib – Rafizi

 

INTERVIEW | Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is now effectively the de facto opposition after he “hijacked” the opposition’s ability to “connect with voters on a day-to-day basis” on his social media.

But former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli – who recently announced his return to active politics – said he is ready to take back that initiative from Najib to boost Pakatan Harapan’s appeal to voters in the upcoming general election.

“I think what has been missing so much (from Harapan) in the last two to three years is the ability to connect on a day-to-day basis with voters. To make matters worse, that ability has been hijacked by Najib.

“He took the populist approach to voice out day-to-day issues that we used to do when we were the opposition. So, effectively, Najib is the de facto opposition to the government,” Rafizi said.

In an interview with Malaysiakini at his office recently, Rafizi said he used to wake up at 4am to prepare for press conferences or to release press statements daily, to forge that connection with the voters.

Engagement is no easy task

Rafizi, who will be contesting for the deputy presidency in PKR’s upcoming party polls, noted that such work is not easy and requires a lot of research and follow-up.

For example, he said, back in 2010, he wanted to change Malay attitudes towards corruption by proving to them that corruption is bad and will negatively affect the Malay community.

To that end, he had focused on highlighting issues with Malay institutions such as Tabung Haji, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) and Felda to prove that these institutions have been brought to their knees due to Umno’s rule for the last 50 years.

“Putting the narrative and connecting with the masses is a lot more than just Twitter or speeches in Parliament.

“You really have to connect with them and that’s a lot of work which takes consistency and that is what Najib is doing now.

“That initiative has to be taken back from Najib,” Rafizi added.

He said Harapan supporters became used to being updated and enlightened about what was happening in the country back then and it is something the coalition should strive to do again.

“It is not enough to say we are Harapan and we are better than Umno.

“They (the voters) actually want to know, if you say the prices should go down, how exactly do you intend to do it? What is wrong with the current process? When you say, it is due to AP (approved permit), who actually got the AP?

“They want to see you carry this through until fruition, at risk to yourself, and this takes a lot of discipline, and I think that narrative has been missing,” said the former lawmaker.

Below are excerpts from the interview, which have been edited for language and brevity:

Malaysiakini: What can you offer to PKR and Harapan at this moment?

Rafizi: I think what has been missing so much in the last two to three years is the ability to connect on a day-to-day basis with voters. To make matters worse, that ability has been hijacked by Najib.

Of course, Najib, I think he is delusional for thinking he is popular. We still run data for Najib and nothing suggests that Najib is popular. The number of people who believe he is guilty is above 80 percent throughout, including Umno members.

His level of support to become prime minister is at 3 percent - it’s a lot lower than the current prime minister, regardless of what people think of the current prime minister. So that tells a lot.

But why is it that he has traction on social media? Because he took the populist approach to voice out day-to-day issues that we used to do when we were in the opposition so effectively, Najib is the de facto opposition to the government.

Of course, we can see right through it. He has no intention of fighting for the people, he is just fighting for himself but he is opportunistic enough to hire a team to consistently try to connect with the public.

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak campaigning during the Johor polls

That is something we used to do before we got into the government. I used to wake up at 4am, you guys know I had press conferences every day, I issued press statements every day. It takes a lot of work to check on the numbers and so on.

Harapan supporters more or less were used to being updated with issues and given enlightenment about what is happening. It is not enough to say we are Harapan and we’re better than Umno.

They actually want to know if you say the prices should go down, how exactly do you intend to do it? What is wrong with the current process? When you say, it is due to AP, who actually got the AP? They want to see you carry this through until fruition, at risk to yourself. This takes a lot of discipline and I think the narrative has been missing.

Because partly, when everyone went to become ministers, after we lost the government, I think some people carried on as if they were still ministers. Some of the newer MPs, they went in and they were part of the government so the culture was very different.

The media, you guys know my preoccupation back then was about managing the narrative, about what to focus on.

For example, when I first came back in 2010, one thing I really wanted to change was the Malay attitude towards corruption. Generally, Malays back then say corruption is okay because at least Malays got it, rather than the Chinese.

That really annoyed me, I was ashamed of that attitude then, so I wanted to prove to the Malays that corruption is bad, it affects you and you can’t say so long as the government is Malay, as long as those who profited from it are Malays, we’re okay.

Hence the series of exposes I did, was to build a story and narrative that it (corruption) is harmful even to the Malays. I think by now, Malays, by and large, and to a certain extent, actually care about corruption.

Likewise, after 2013, we realised no matter how bad corruption was, there were enough Malays who felt that Umno is a custodian and guardian of everything Malay in this country.

That’s why I started focusing on Tabung Haji, Mara, Felda and all the Malay institutions to prove the point that you left these to Umno for the last 50 years and they have brought these institutions to their knees. It took us three years to consistently check and follow up, again a lot of hard work.

Putting the narrative and connecting with the masses is a lot more than just Twitter or speeches in Parliament. You really have to connect with them and that’s a lot of work that takes consistency and that is what Najib is doing now. That initiative has to be taken back from Najib.

For that to happen, sometimes we have to be candid. We have to call a spade a spade. If that means that we have to point fingers and tell off the Harapan leadership, we have to because that is what the public wants.

Unfortunately, what we have in the past two to three years, perhaps they have to maintain harmony, I don’t understand what’s happening, that has been missing.

By the time we went into the Johor election, we tested with 40,000 fence-sitters. Their answers were very shocking. Their answer was that there was not much difference between BN, Perikatan Nasional (PN), Harapan or PKR, they (the political parties) were all just looking out for themselves. So if I (the voter) have to choose, then I might as well choose BN because at least they have been around for much longer and I know what it is.

BN leaders celebrating their landslide victory at the Johor polls

These people, because we also tested whom they voted for in the last general election, these people voted for Harapan then.

So unless we reconnect, put consistent efforts to build narratives again, it is not enough just to tell people that we are Harapan and PKR and therefore, we are automatically better.

In fact, to a lot of fence-sitters, that is considered holier than thou. That is something we must stop doing. We have to earn back their respect and say we are better because of one, two, three, four and five.

Return to politics

Malaysiakini: A lot of people are looking forward to your return to politics. Do you think you can live up to their expectations and the hype?

Rafizi: I think it is a question of time. If we have considerable time before the next election, we may be able to energise, especially fence-sitters and the kind of voters whom we appealed to in the last general election.

But that is not within our control, so I think time is of the essence, it will depend very much on how much time we have. But if you are in my shoes, we better start soon, precisely because we do not have much time.

We will try to do whatever we can. The good thing is we have gone through that process prior to the 14th general election (GE14) so our setup time is so much faster in terms of getting the systems in place, the messages in place, and reaching out to people.

And I think compared to 2016 when we first started appealing directly to the masses, the public understands it much better now so we do not have to go through those long months trying to convince that it was worth doing, so I hope that given all this, despite us having a shorter time now, I hope we will be able to make a slight impact in any way.

Starts with PKR

Malaysiakini: When you say “we”, who are you referring to?

Rafizi: There are like-minded young MPs in PKR. Let’s begin with PKR first because I think we need to get PKR up to speed because PKR appeals to the most moderate voters who are very prone to swinging from one side to another.

So when compared to DAP, of course, they are very concerned about the disillusionment and drop in voter turnout, but because DAP contests in mostly non-Malay majority seats, their seats are not as sensitive as PKR seats. By extension, because PKR and Amanah more or less appeal to the same voter group, if PKR can lift it up a bit, we will be able to help Amanah as well.

So, likewise, in terms of voter profiling, the majority of Harapan voters feel that, of the three parties, it is PKR that basically sets the tone. So the onus is on PKR to try to get things moving and appeal again.

So rather than talking about Harapan and going through the bureaucracy, a few of us actually got together to say we have to do this. Let’s start with PKR first. Let’s appeal directly and at least deliver some signs that we listen to what the voters want to hear from PKR and hopefully, that will get the ball rolling also for Amanah and by extension, DAP. - Mkini