Ex-Umno info chief moots research unit, cites Invoke's success

Former Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan has suggested the party establish a research unit to enable the party to move forward.

In a short video clip uploaded on his Twitter yesterday, Shahril cited the success of PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli’s data research company Invoke Solution Sdn Bhd as an example.

“There’s a specific suggestion for moving forward (for Umno). I think we have to have the commitment to establish a department that does ‘real’ RND (research and development), not half-baked ones.

“All this while, many Umno members thought that Invoke was good. If we think so, why not emulate it?” he said.

Attract ‘silent voters’

The new department, Shahril added, should make “proper” surveys, calls, and research among focus groups to gauge the national sentiment as programmes conducted on the ground have proven to be unreliable to determine the real support level.

“It has become difficult to gauge which way the ‘silent voters’ will go.

“[The studies] can be either outsourced to teams that have the relevant expertise, or we (Umno) build a team to do the job,” he said, adding that to become a first-class party, Umno should have first-class intel with research department to attract “silent voters”.

“With this research and intel department, it will easier for us to know the narrative to play up on social media.”- Mkini