IF there is one thing the opposition parties need to learn quickly is to be more precise in their campaign messages during any election.

Haphazard and inconsistent communication has only brought them disastrous defeats in recent state polls.

And despite getting hammered, they have learnt nothing but provide knee-jerk and shallow responses.

Instead of taking collective responsibility for their miserable failures, they instead blamed voters for making wrong choices and not turning up in droves to cast their ballot.

Insisting that a lower voter turnout is a sure advantage to Umno/Barisan Nasional (BN) is just not acceptable anymore.

The fact remains that the entire opposition front has been communicating weak, untargeted, ambiguous and haphazard messages in their campaigns.

Take the IMDB and “court cluster” issues as examples.

Don’t the leaders in the opposition realise that personalities like former prime minister Najib Razak and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi are no longer a bane to the party?

The opposition’s insistence on badgering the two vehemently on their campaign trails had indeed backfired horrendously.

The opposition is practically perceived as equating Umno members as being in cahoots with the “court cluster “.

Look, Umno has close to three million-plus members and making an impression going round town and painting the entire party as being corrupt is just irresponsible to start with.

Take for example, there is a thief in a village and is currently facing various trials in the court of law.

Will it be logical to now blare the horns and say that the entire village are thieves?

While there could be a handful of villagers claiming the thief to be innocent, that doesn’t translate into a free-for-all ticket to condemn the entire village as thieves.

There would definitely be retaliation and protest from the greater part of the village against those insinuating that they are in cahoots with the thief.

Now, this is exactly what is happening to the opposition for not analysing the psyche of the majority, and that is not only the village residents but the entire Malay majority.

Remember, neither Najib nor Zahid got a single vote in the state elections since 2018 and yet the opposition is rattled.

Clearly the opposition leaders are stubborn and stuck deep into a single issue and look like they are desperately trying to just maximise and recycle a failed message.

Forget not that Najib is not Umno and Umno is not Najib.

Making them synonyms is as good as promoting Umno/BN further, and which rightfully maybe they deserve it.

The opposition’s “big tent” has turned into a “big top” of a circus, fit for entertainment purposes only. – March 21, 2022.

* Narinder Pal reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.