PKR grassroots leaders welcomed Rafizi Ramli’s Ayuh Malaysia”campaign launched last weekend to reach politically fatigued and disinterested voters.

It’s what PKR and Pakatan Harapan (PH) need, they said, after the opposition’s dismal performances in recent state elections attributed to voter disillusionment.

Malacca PKR chief Halim Bachik said voters are disillusioned because leaders have failed to explain the confusing political landscape.

“It’s not that PH has failed, it is that ministers and politicians do not understand how the people feel and do not explain to them what needs to be done for the country.

“People are politically fatigued; voters feel like giving up. People are only thinking about daily survival.

“So Ayuh Malaysia is needed to bring people back to participating in improving the country,” Halim told The Malaysian Insight.

Ayuh Malaysia will focus on livelihood issues and use social media as its main medium of communication.

Rafizi, a PKR vice president who will be running for the deputy presidency, said at the campaign launch that the opposition lacked an effective narrative to counter the “carefully choreographed” social media strategy of former prime minister Najib Razak.

Though convicted of graft, Najib is still influential among some segments of voters and has gained a huge following on social media.

Halim said PH was no stranger to social media and had used it effectively in past elections, leading to its big win in the 2018 general election.

Another grassroots leader, Thiagarajan Raju said the Ayuh Malaysia campaign was a “wave” that would help push PH to victory in the general election.

The Tebrau PKR committee member said the campaign would inform people on issues that mattered to them in a manner that was easily understood.

Internally, Thiagarajan also said the campaign would help Rafizi in his bid for the deputy presidency.

“The Ayuh Malaysia campaign will happen and will definitely involve Rafizi… Within the party, his popularity will definitely increase,” he said.

Rafizi announced his bid party’s number two spot on March 15, after going on hiatus from active politics in 2018.  At the time, he had been convicted under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act for whistleblowing on the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal, and was ineligible to stand for election.

Rafizi ran for the party deputy presidency in 2018 but lost to incumbent Mohamed Azmin Ali. Rafizi was appointed vice president after the loss, a decision of party chief Anwar Ibrahim which caused a split in the party.

The deputy president’s post has been vacant since 2020, when Azmin was sacked for conspiring to topple the PH government.

Rafizi is expected to face PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for the number two spot.

Saifuddin has welcomed his rival’s campaign as a creative effort that will be good for PKR.

“It’s still too early (to see the impact) but I’m following the news and I read that its objective is to reach fence-sitters.

“It is a creative and good initiative. As the party secretary-general, I am open to new ideas and (Ayuh Malaysia) is not a problem for the party,”  Saifuddin told reporters recently.

Rafizi, meanwhile, has said his Ayuh Malaysia campaign was not to boost his chances for the deputy presidency.

He denied that Ayuh Malaysia would give him an advantage in the party polls.

“I’m actually outdated. People have spent time campaigning for the deputy presidency but I spend more time with voters.

“I think the deputy president’s post is secondary because if we can’t win voters in the general election, it won’t matter whether I win the deputy president’s post or not.

“PKR and PH are really in a bad situation,” Rafizi said at the campaign’s launch recently, citing PH’s performance in the Malacca and Johor polls.

“If the situation in Johor continues in the next general election, we will face a situation as bad as in 2004,” said Rafizi, referring to the general election that year when PKR won only one seat while its then Barisan Alternatif (BA) partner, PAS lost 20 out of 27 seats contested. DAP won 12 parliamentary seats at the time.

Rafizi said Ayuh Malaysia was aimed at making fence-sitters interested in voting again.

“It’s more important to get their support (in the general election). But if that results in people voting for me (in the party elections), I accept that,” he said.

Ayuh Malaysia will focus on five key topics: food security, renewable energy, technical and vocational education and training, affordable housing, and democracy. – March 30, 2022.