Established parties rely on fear to win votes, says Nik Nazmi

 The Bersama leader accuses DAP and Umno of resorting to ‘ghost stories’ about what could happen if their rivals come to power.

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said Bersama wants to avoid repeating the mistakes of older political parties.

PETALING JAYA:

Bersama leader Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has accused established political parties of relying on fear to win votes instead of convincing Malaysians to support them for their policies and principles.

Nik Nazmi claimed such parties had resorted to “ghost stories” about what could happen if their rivals came to power.

“DAP will say that if you vote for Bersama, PAS will become the government, or Umno will take power.

“Umno plays the same game. It says DAP will take power if the Malays are not united. That’s the game. Politics of fear,” he said at an event in Penang tonight.

Nik Nazmi said Bersama wanted to avoid repeating what he described as the mistakes of older political parties and was planning its moves carefully.

“We want to learn from the mistakes of older political parties. Bersama will be truly different. Yes, we want power, but we want it the right way,” he said.

He said such an approach meant Bersama would need time to establish itself, estimating that it could take five to seven years for the party to build enough support to challenge the country’s major political parties.

He also said Penang’s electoral history showed that voters in the state were willing to embrace political change, pointing to the 2008 state election, when Pakatan Rakyat took power from Barisan Nasional.

“In 2008, you voted for DAP and PKR. So our hope is that you will vote for us if you are tired of what is happening in Penang,” he said. - FMT