The Malaysian Insight

GONE are the days of relying on campaign slogans, late-night ceramah and broad strategies when it comes to winning an election.

Taking a leaf out of American politics, which now employs algorithms and surveys to plot campaign strategies, the opposition has added a new weapon to its arsenal – 82 bright, talented and energetic youths.

According to Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen, the seven-month-old Invoke Malaysia has employed 80 fresh graduates from a broad range of disciplines and prestigious colleges from Oxford, Berkeley and King’s College in London.

“We rode the wave for change but in truth, we didn’t have even a system that delivered sufficient polling and counting agents (PACA) in all our seats,” said Wong Chen, a PKR lawmaker.

Operating from Sg Besi in Kuala Lumpur, Invoke, a non-profit organisation, does data analysis and profiles voters’ behavioural tendencies and patterns. 

Employing teams of volunteers, Invoke collects voter information that range from basic details, such as age, gender, race, occupation, religion, issues affecting voters to opinions on shariah issues and corruption.

The information is then processed by data scientists to identify the right strategy to employ for any given seat. This analysis is then used by candidates, who have signed up with it, to fine-tune their election strategies. 

Invoke also carries out recruitment drives for PACAs to support the 50 candidates who have signed up with them.

“We now have 9,000 volunteers, we need to reach 40,000. Invoke started PACA training in our 12 centres a month ago. Training will increase as election approaches through programmes and chat shows,” said Wong.   

Started by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, using his own money as seed capital, Invoke recently had a fund-raiser and collected around RM150,000.

Invoke currently manages the campaigns of 50 candidates from PKR, Amanah and DAP.

Rafizi said: “I don’t want opposition campaigns to be based on financial backers. These backers will hedge their bets during elections and always support certain candidates.

“But when you win, they will come knocking on your door,” the Pandan lawmaker told The Malaysian Insight.

As such, Invoke puts certain conditions on candidates before agreeing to help them with their campaigns.

“Candidates who want to use Invoke have to declare their assets and support some pro-reform policies,” said Rafizi.

According to Wong, Pakatan Harapan needs to win another 40 seats in the next elections if it wants to beat Barisan Nasional.

“If it is a straight fight, we may need a 3% to 4% swing. But when it is a three-cornered fight, a 1% to 2% swing could decide who wins the seat,” said Rafizi.

“As such, you need to know which seats are susceptible to those swings, and also what messages are needed for their key voters.”

But why would youths want to volunteer at an election think-tank ahead of the polls?

For 18-year-old Jeremy Pang, interning at Invoke has been a roller-coaster learning curve filled with excitement.

“I just finished my SPM and I plan to study law. And interning here gives me an insight into how money flows in a political campaign,” he said.

Pang hoped that the three-month experience would at least provide a foundation to his studies in the future.

“I’m planning to study law locally. I hope that what I learn here can help me in my future studies.”

Another intern, Lim Kim Hock, 19, has just finished his Unified Examinations Certificate and finds interning at Invoke exciting and fun.

“Like the other day, they took us to Parliament to have an inside view of how the legislature process works.”

He plans to further his study in Taiwan and hopes that he is able to work again with Invoke.

Rafizi said Invoke uses money raised from public fund-raising events to pay the salaries of its 82-person team nationwide. It is seeking fresh funds to support operations for the next 10 months.

“We are asking funds for the next 10 months because we expect the prime minister to call for elections after September, or latest by January or February.” – April 19, 2017.