PAKATAN Harapan (PH) needs to re-invent its campaign strategies for the general election to focus on creating a better future for Malaysians, Anthony Loke said.

Loke, the former transport minister, said focus should be on the way bring the country forward post-pandemic.

He said people were more interested in what the political parties could do for them and how their burdens could be eased.

“Focus should be on how we want to govern this country and bring this country forward especially in the post pandemic era, how to bring together people, and what is our vision in terms of creating a better economic environment for ordinary Malaysians.

“By and large, people want to hear what the political parties will do for them and what is our vision to create a better society.

“Voters want to hear about our vision and hear our approach and our way of helping them and the country to come out from this crisis, to come out of this pandemic and how we address the issues of inflation, cost of living, creating more jobs, etc.

“In the end, the basics in every election are bread and butter issues. We need to get there,” the Seremban MP told The Malaysian Insight.

However, the newly appointed DAP secretary-general said the opposition still need to remind the people of former prime minister Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

He also said reforms were needed to avoid the repeat of mega scandals such as 1MDB.

“Of course we need to remind the masses about the corruption scandals of the past regime and Barisan Nasional (BN).

“We need to explain to the public why it is important that we need to bring about reforms, we need to institute reforms in our institutions. It is because we want to avoid a repeat of 1MDB, a repeat of kleptocracy.

“Everybody knows about the scandals. I think Malaysians will not forget the images of the hundreds of branded handbags and millions of cash seized from Najib’s residence after May 9, 2018,” he said.

1MDB, the brainchild of Najib founded in 2009, is one of the biggest financial scandals in the history of the country.

The PH government opened investigations into 1MDB and on Najib’s involvement after he was ousted in the 2018 general election.

Najib faces nearly 40 money laundering and corruption charges relating to 1MDB.

In 2020, Najib was found guilty of corruption and was sentenced to 12 years in jail for received an estimated RM42 million from SRC International, a subsidiary of 1MDB.

He is the first leader in the country to be convicted of graft.

His appeal is pending at the Federal Court.

Loke, however, said PH’s strategy cannot be only about Najib.

Rather than just attacking Najib, Loke said PH must inform the people of the impact Najib’s misdeeds would have on them.

“If our narrative is just by banging that issue (1MDB) only and just about Najib without talking about reforms, then I think the people will feel tired.

“So, I think in a way, we need to reinvent how we present the message to the public.

“These things need to be communicated and highlighted to the public in a more simple and direct manner, for example why 1MDB happened and that it is because a lot of executive powers were concentrated in the hands of the prime minister,” he said.

Loke said PH needs to be in power to bring about these changes. – April 5, 2022.