The Malaysian Insight

THE way to Putrajaya is paved with rural votes and Pakatan Harapan (PH) needs to take the roads less travelled if it wants to win the next general election, said Amanah strategy director Dzulkefly Ahmad.

The former Kuala Selangor MP said the opposition coalition needed to add another 25 federal seats to its current 88 if it wants to replace Barisan Nasional.

“The challenge is to do what we have never done before. We have to use a wise approach by winning 25 (additional) seats by flipping 100,000 voters.

“Since the battle is in peninsula, we need to get at least 100 out of the 165 parliamentary seats. We have to push to the maximum to get at least 90 or even more before there is a snowball effect,” he said during the “3-cornered fights: A win for Pakatan” forum in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said the opposition could also gain from the current situation in Sabah, where Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal is being investigated for the the RM1.5 billion corruption probe.

“We don’t have to win 112 seats here, but the fact is we need to start a tipping point. Anything above 90 and we will get Sabah and Sarawak to join us,” he said.

DAP election strategy director Ong Kian Ming, meanwhile, said PH could win in three-cornered fights if they can convince voters that this election is about BN vs PH.

“We have to let the voters know that if you want to keep the status quo, you vote for BN but if you want to change the status quo, there is only one option for you to choose, which is PH,” he said, adding that it was wrong to refer to Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections as something that would be repeated in the next general election.

“Because at that time no one was voting for a new state government in Selangor or Perak.

“So people were just voting for the candidates in those particular seats. There was nothing at stake,” said the Serdang MP.

He added that the opposition also has to provide a clear alternative in terms of policies.

“We have good history in terms of coming up with good policies under Barisan Alternatif and Pakatan Rakyat. It should be about just eliminating corruption but should include how we aim to tackle the economic problems,” he said.

PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, meanwhile, said the challenge for PH is to explain to voters how they have been wronged and victimized and why a change of government is necessary.

“They need to know how they have been oppressed because people, sometimes, can’t connect the current government’s policies with their own problems.

“We have to prioritise this narrative to win the people’s heart. They don’t care about your problems because they have their own difficulties and they look to us for solutions,” she said. – October 22, 2017.