PH must move away from negative style campaigning, says Chin Tong

 

Voters must feel they have a stake in Pakatan Harapan’s election campaign, says DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong.

PETALING JAYA: A DAP strategist and a political scientist said the opposition coalition should move away from a negative style of campaigning and old narratives respectively, for the impending 15th general election (GE15).

Liew Chin Tong said Pakatan Harapan (PH) was “stuck” on running a negative campaign.

Liew Chin Tong.

He said this despite PH employing a more positive approach in the 2018 elections, which saw Barisan Nasional toppled after 61 years in power.

The former deputy defence minister said PH had focussed on “hope for a better Malaysia” in GE14.

For the coming polls, he said, PH should adopt a positive and participatory approach.

“(The) campaign (should make voters) feel they have a stake in our campaign and government,” he said on “Consider This”, a televised segment on Astro Awani.

Wong Chin Huat.

Liew also said that PH should not market itself as a perfect coalition but as one with good intentions.

Political scientist Wong Chin Huat, meanwhile, said the opposition needed a narrative “that is not trapped in 2018”.

There were those who would espouse an “anything but Umno” narrative, he said, adding that such old themes would lead to people thinking that the country’s electoral politics was still frail.

“Unfortunately, things have changed since we have three national coalitions similar to the situation in 1978 and 1996,” he said. - FMT