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MP SPEAKS | Lessons for PKR and Harapan from Slim polls
Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad
When GE15 comes, Harapan certainly cannot go to voters offering nothing but relitigating the feuds of the last decade, whether it is the 1MDB scandal, the issues that confronted the federal government we led from 2018—2020 or the Sheraton Move.https://www.facebook.com/v2.10/plugins/quote.php?app_id=217374841612391&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Df2e827cd32a108c%26domain%3Dm.malaysiakini.com%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fm.malaysiakini.com%252Ffe80afadbcf50c%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=0&href=https%3A%2F%2Fm.malaysiakini.com%2Fnews%2F540716&locale=en_US&sdk=joey
I am not saying that these points are irrelevant, but it cannot be the only things that we run on. And Harapan certainly should not be aligning itself with other parties who cannot see or understand this.
“Kleptokrat”, “Kerajaan pintu belakang” and “pengkhianat” will not be slogans we will win the next general election on. Not on their own.
The fact is that Pejuang did not offer a compelling economic message to the voters of Slim. The party could not persuade them that their lives and livelihoods would improve if they voted for their candidate. There was no vision, no hope or promise for the future.
And that is why the Pejuang candidate lost. This is the mistake that Harapan must avoid in the next election.
Of course, we don’t have to shy away from exposing the abuses and lack of legitimacy of the current government. But this cannot be in the absence of a plan for bettering the economic prospects of Malaysians, especially in light of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.
The heavy defeat at Slim can be a turning point for PKR and Harapan — but only if we learn the right lessons from it.
NIK NAZMI NIK AHMAD is the PKR chief organising secretary and MP for Setiawangsa.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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