Launching ‘Era Melayu Baru’
COMMENT | My article on Feb 4 detailed three steps Harapan needs to take to win the overall communications war.
Today’s article will elaborate on the third of said steps: establishing a new Malay political narrative.
The upcoming Semenyih by-election is the perfect laboratory to fire the first shot, and test this new narrative.
Speaking on Semenyih, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia senior political science professor Muhamad Nadzri Mohamed Noor stated: “Almost 70 percent of voters are Malay. So like it or not, Bersatu also has to play up Malay sentiments.”
While the good professor is not far off the mark, the term ‘playing up Malay sentiment’ sounds more the domain of Umno and PAS, especially today...
COMMENT | My article on Feb 4 detailed three steps Harapan needs to take to win the overall communications war.
Today’s article will elaborate on the third of said steps: establishing a new Malay political narrative.
The upcoming Semenyih by-election is the perfect laboratory to fire the first shot, and test this new narrative.
Speaking on Semenyih, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia senior political science professor Muhamad Nadzri Mohamed Noor stated: “Almost 70 percent of voters are Malay. So like it or not, Bersatu also has to play up Malay sentiments.”
While the good professor is not far off the mark, the term ‘playing up Malay sentiment’ sounds more the domain of Umno and PAS, especially today.
In my last article, I wrote that Rule Number One of political communication is to never dance to your opponent’s tune - that is, never let them dictate and lead the debate.
If you are caught constantly being on the defensive, and making fumbling responses to whatever the opposition is yelling about, you have already lost.
Just as DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang now cannot out-troll former PM Najib Abdul Razak, Bersatu and Harapan cannot ‘out-Malay’ Umno and PAS.
Here, ‘out-Malay’ is shorthand for how Bersatu and Harapan cannot rile up Malay (or Malaysian for that matter) dissatisfaction, anger, and discontent - given the simple, immutable fact that it is in the government, while Umno and PAS are in the opposition.
As I wrote previously, the opposition will always have this one advantage, and if Harapan tries to beat them at their game, the battle will be lost before it begins.
The path to a Harapan victory lies not via ‘countering’ the opposition, but by outperforming them, and by selling a superior product.
This article will discuss the right end goal of Harapan’s political messaging, how to best contextualise this message, and the best way to deal with the Umno and PAS problem.
True empowerment, dignity and prosperity
Let us start from the desired end goal, and work backwards.
Any political message worth its salt must be condensable to a handful of sentences.
The dominant impression Harapan should look to implant into hearts and minds everywhere can be summarised in the following two sentences.
Under Umno, only well-connected Malays ever got rich via corruption; and the Malay majority were purposely kept poor and on crutches, so that Umno could maintain power easily.
Under Harapan, Malays will take the first steps towards true empowerment, pride and dignity based on substance, and prosperity for all.
True empowerment involves investing resources that are not only high in quantity but high in quality and meticulously planned towards genuinely setting Malays on a path towards becoming independently sustainable high income earners.
This leads into the idea of pride or dignity - ‘maruah’.
True dignity is not determined by what politicians shout about, or by different groups being pitted against one another.
True dignity is based on being empowered to take pride in being able to make a good and honest living, via good and honest work - work that makes a genuine meaningful contribution to the nation’s economy.
Equitably shared prosperity for all means firstly, overthrowing the old, corrupt, feudal system, where all the resources go to the top of the pyramid, while the masses were expected to live on crumbs from the higher ups; and secondly, spreading the nation’s wealth equally across all classes and ethnic groups.
‘Era Melayu Baru’ vs ‘Era Melayu Umno’
Now that we have a simple message, we must not forget to effectively situate it in an accurate context, as follows:
No one will debate that Malays are facing problems - dwindling economic opportunities; intra-ethnic inequality; and a perceived lack of comparative advantages, both compared to other Malaysians, and to the world at large.
The question is: how did we get here?
This is not a problem that appeared overnight, or over a week, a year, or even a decade. It is not a problem that appeared after one prime minister, or even two.
This problem is over 60 years in the making. It is part and parcel of the same corruption, pillaging and economic mismanagement that has left Malaysia in the dust, as other countries we were once on par with zoom ahead - Singapore and South Korea are obvious examples, and now we’re even falling far behind countries like Thailand and Vietnam.
This was ‘Era Melayu Umno’.
The narrative for ‘Era Melayu Baru’ I would put forth goes as follows:
The first year of Harapan’s government must be dedicated to saving the Malaysian ship from sinking. The inconceivable economic damage perpetrated by 1MDB and other corruption scandals pose a clear and present danger, and the main engines of our economy must be set running again, lest we all drown.
Now that Harapan has taken the first most important steps to that recovery over the last year, they can turn their focus to the next phase of the New Malaysia journey: creating 'The New Malay', and equitably shared prosperity for all.
‘Answering’ Umno and PAS
The product that Umno and PAS are looking to sell, especially post Cameron Highlands, is a very simple one: that Harapan is dominated by a DAP that wants to stomp on all things Malay and Muslim, and that Umno and PAS are the true defenders of all things Malay and Muslim.
It is a waste of time to spend too many resources trying to prove that Harapan is not a DAP stooge.
This is like an innocent husband trying to prove to a suspicious wife that he is not cheating. A wife can prove that her husband is cheating, but it is near impossible for a husband to ‘prove’ that he is not cheating. Indeed, the more he were to protest it was not the case, the more suspicious the wife may get.
On this front, all Harapan can do is take as many steps as possible to avoid the perception that DAP is calling the shots.
Beyond that, Harapan should turn the tables. As argued in my last article, the best defense is a good offense.
The simplest way to lay the offensive on Umno and PAS is to ask: exactly what have they achieved for the Malays?
Umno has had 60 years at the helm, fully in control, and the proof of the pudding is surely in the tasting.
Harapan needs to drive home hard the simple point that it is absolutely inconceivable for the blame regarding the position of Malays today to be placed on anyone besides Umno.
It is laughable to think that MCA or MIC were impediments in any way to Umno doing exactly what it wanted, how it wanted, when it wanted. After 60 years, is this is all they have to show for it?
PAS is also vulnerable in this regard, having a less than stellar record regarding development and administrative successes in the Malay belt.
Looking at their reaction, there are also clear indications that PAS is highly vulnerable regarding the RM90 million Sarawak Report scandal.
Painting the picture that PAS failed to convincingly defend itself against accusations of taking so much money (and dirty money at that) from Umno will significantly tarnish the image of a party that depends so much on having a clean, religious image.
Win the war, not just the battles
In 2019, it’s also important to differentiate between battles and wars.
Administratively, by-elections have zero effect. There will be no change in government, and little, if any, changes in the dynamics of the legislature, regardless of the outcome.
It is important for politicians to not only understand this, but to also remember that voters understand this as well.
This gives a distinct advantage to the opposition. It costs the voter nothing (since there will be no change in government and so on) to register a protest vote against the government - if for no other reason than to say: hey, remember not to take us for granted.
Indeed, from a democratic point of view, some may consider it advantageous for another opposition voice to be heard in the Selangor state assembly.
There are two main takeaways on this point.
Firstly, it may be wise to acknowledge to voters that they have every right to vote for the opposition, and that Harapan understands the reason they may be drawn to do so. This is a better approach than threats, fearmongering, or begging.
The second point is much more important, as it involves understanding that sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war.
If Harapan decides to throw in everything - kitchen sink and all - and haphazardly play any card they can in some desperate gambit to win Semenyih by hook or by crook, they risk suffering much more important losses in the overall war.
Ultimately, Semenyih matters a lot less than GE15, and that is the goal that Harapan should keep its eyes on.
Knowing this, Semenyih should be seen as a launching pad for the ideas and strategies that will carry Harapan to victory in GE15 - not a do or die battlefield that must be won at any cost.
NATHANIEL TAN is Director of Media and Communications at EMIR Research (www.emirresearch.com), a think tank focused on data-driven policy research, centred around principles of engagement, moderation, innovation and rigour.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
With the admission of Shabudin (marry your rapist), Mahathir has double confirmed his principle less and power crazy old fox tail, congratulation to reinstatement of BN for GE15. Anyone care to start the third opposition in msia?? May I repeat the obvious here. Pas and Umno have been and still are the master minds of mother of all corruptions and the less educated people in majority the malays were categorized as the blind followers. With this vicious cycle breeding uncontrollably in msia there will not be adequate progress for the next 60 yrs, even Vietnam and Bangla going to overtake bolehland.