THE outcome of the next general election may very well hinge on how effectively Pakatan Harapan explain to the people the large and complex issue of state investor 1MDB and how it affects their lives, said analysts.

Although the opposition’s tour to heighten public awareness of the nation’s biggest-ever scandal is a good start, they said.

But the leaders will need to do more than grab the microphone if they hope to get the people, especially rural voters, to understand the enormity of the wrongdoing in 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

Professor Ahmad Atory Hussain said roadshows to explain 1MDB before the next polls could be good for PH, as Malaysians, except for the middle and upper classes, generally have not grasped the complexities of the financial scandal and consequently, its scale and import.

“1MDB is huge. There is no bigger issue. I believe if there is an issue that can take down BN, it is this which has made even (DAP parliamentary leader) Lim Kit Siang and (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad work together.

“But many don’t understand the scandal, so PH need to use the time they have to repeat all they have said about 1MDB. It will help keep the issue alive,” the retired Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer said.

Ilham Centre’s executive director Hisomuddin Bakar said the roadshow would be a “good effort” to bring up issues that were not reported by the mainstream media.

This would be PH’s chance to get information to folk in rural areas with lower internet penetration, he said.

The analysts were commenting on PH’s announcement yesterday that it will embark on a nationwide tour to explain issues related to the state investor.

Opposition leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the coalition will explain the 1MDB saga to voters following the move by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to seize assets allegedly bought using money siphoned off the state fund.

Dr Wan Azizah said the two-month long roadshow will begin on July 6 at Dewan JKKK Penaga in Kepala Batas at 9pm and end with a gathering in September.

Language barrier

Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) deputy chairman Prof Mohammad Redzuan Othman said PH must translate the highly complex 1MDB subject into easily digestible language.

He said speakers must be able to explain in layman’s terms the scandal and how it is linked to the people’s concerns, such as the rising prices of goods, cost of living and unemployment rate.

“During the roadshow, they shouldn’t talk about the technicalities of the 1MBD issue. Kampung folk won’t understand what the DoJ civil suits are about.

“They will only get it if PH can relate the scandal to the people’s hardship. They will only understand when they see how 1MDB affects their lives,” he said. 

It will not be easy explaining 1MDB and how it raised funds, invested money, incurred losses and racked up billions of ringgit in debt while allegedly funding purchases of hotels, luxury properties, paintings, diamonds, a jet, yacht and more.

And then there are the three civil suits filed by the DoJ to recover these assets.

Hisomuddin said the PH roadshow organisers must think carefully how they will use the scandal to get Barisan Nasional supporters to switch sides and ultimately, vote opposition.

“If the roadshow was to rely on the PH leaders to give ceramah, it won’t be able to deliver a shift in voter support at GE14.”

Hisomuddin said there was also the risk that the roadshow would attract only supporters or sympathisers of PH instead of those from BN, whom they needed to convince.

“They may find their own hardcore supporters making up the crowd. This 1MDB issue has still not reached a new segment of voters to build up stronger objection and pressure against the government.”

He also said, of late, PH ceramah events had been getting “bleak attendances” because the people now have other means of getting information. 

Go door-to-door

Atory said people could get information on social media sites and programmes, such as those run by policy institute Invoke Malaysia, which disseminated information on current issues.

However, he acknowledged that such communication also lacked effectiveness among the rural folk, who might not even own smartphones.

He said if contemporary approaches did not work, the opposition would have to use more traditional methods, like going door-to-door.

“They may have to do it as the last resort to reach out to the people who really don’t understand what 1MDB is about.”

Atory said PH component party Amanah had made house calls in the east coast by renting buses and lorries to ferry its members to the villages.

“This method has helped Amanah to expand its reach. They don’t even need to rent community halls to meet the electorate.

“It has been working for them. They are getting more popular in parts of Terengganu and Kelantan,” said the former lecturer, who is now visiting the east coast.

Change of game plan

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia associate professor Dr Faisal S. Hazis is sceptical about how far PH expects to go riding on the 1MDB issue.

He said it would not work on voters who supported BN as they believed what they were told by BN, which was that the scandal was made up by foreign forces working with the opposition.

Citing the Sarawak elections last year as an example, Faisal said voters still chose BN to govern the state, despite all the talk about 1MDB and the goods and services tax (GST).

“There were two big issues on the cards, but at the end of the day, Sarawak BN consolidated its dominance and won with a bigger majority than in the last state elections.

“There was the Adenan (Satem) factor but what really affected the election results was the opposition’s failure to offer a strong alternative coalition and narrative,” he said, referring to the late Sarawak chief minister who was popular with the people.

Faisal said bread-and-butter issues were still the top concern among voters, compared with the 1MDB scandal, as proven in every single survey conducted by local pollsters, such as the Merdeka Center and IDE, and those commissioned by political parties. 

He suggested that to win over BN supporters, mainly those living in rural areas, the opposition parties should shift their focus and put more emphasis on building a strong coalition with a good manifesto and concrete policies, so PH could better present itself as a viable alternative to BN.

Hisomuddin also cautioned that should PH fail to resolve its internal woes and show voters that its components worked well together, it could nullify all the good that the roadshow could do for it. – June 29, 2017.