Why let PAS control the political narrative?
COMMENT | I wrote recently that PAS has lost both its moral and political compass.
What it appears to have gained instead, is a surprisingly sharp instinct for political communication.
I also wrote recently that the first rule of political communication is ‘do not let your adversaries set the agenda’ and that the best defence is a good offence.
PAS appears to have taken this very much to heart.
At a point in time, in which they should be drowning in scandal, PAS has somehow managed to set the agenda and determine the narrative of political discourse in the country.
As someone who studies the art of political communication with great interest, I am very impressed by this accomplishment.
By way of a quick recap, the two scandals that should be dominating discourse around PAS was the manner in which they tucked tail and settled the lawsuit against Clare Rewcastle-Brown of Sarawak Report, who accused PAS of receiving RM90 million from Umno...
COMMENT | I wrote recently that PAS has lost both its moral and political compass.
What it appears to have gained instead, is a surprisingly sharp instinct for political communication.
I also wrote recently that the first rule of political communication is ‘do not let your adversaries set the agenda’ and that the best defence is a good offence.
PAS appears to have taken this very much to heart.
At a point in time, in which they should be drowning in scandal, PAS has somehow managed to set the agenda and determine the narrative of political discourse in the country.
As someone who studies the art of political communication with great interest, I am very impressed by this accomplishment.
By way of a quick recap, the two scandals that should be dominating discourse around PAS was the manner in which they tucked tail and settled the lawsuit against Clare Rewcastle-Brown of Sarawak Report, who accused PAS of receiving RM90 million from Umno, and the manner in which central committee member Nik Abduh Nik Aziz (photo) was caught making bald-faced lies when he denied that the voice of an individual admitting that PAS took money from Umno belonged to him.
These are scandals that should, by right, sink PAS, and tarnish its image almost beyond repair.
Yet, how is it that media discourse today is being dominated, not by how PAS has done unethical things that it hid from their party rank and file, but by wild and nonsensical accusations that PAS is making?
These accusations include Nik Abduh’s ridiculous suggestion that PAS, Umno and Bersatu team up to form a government on their own, as well as PAS Youth chief Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi’s farcical suggestion that if DAP does not back Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for a full term in power, this constitutes proof that there is a coup against Mahathir in the works.
Breaking rule number one
One reason why rumours about such a coup are reaching the front pages is plain and simple: Harapan politicians are breaking rule number one of political communication and dancing to their opponent’s tune.
They are practically falling over themselves to hit back at the likes of Khalil and Nik Abduh, shouting loudly and waving their hands wildly in the air, making point after point in response to these wild allegations.
In this short period of time, we have seen rather defensive responses from Amanah’s president Mohamad Sabu and vice-president Mahfuz Omar, as well as from DAP’s Penang Deputy Chief Minister (II) P Ramasamy and assemblyperson Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof.
What they fail to realise is that trying too hard to refute allegations is one of the most effective ways of giving power and credence to these allegations.
The recent discourse around former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has centred around his new persona as a ‘troll’. The discussion on trolling is relevant here as well.
In political communication, effective trolling is when you get your opponent riled up and angry, and induce him to start talking about things you want him to be talking about - instead of things you would prefer him not to talk about.
Whenever your opponent looks angry and agitated, you look better in comparison. And when he is talking about topics of your choice, you’re focusing public attention on things you want public attention focused on.
These comments are not purely theoretical in nature, but are borne of our own experience from being in the opposition and those brief moments in time when trolling BN politicians was nearly a full-time endeavour.
Attack, not defend
Mohamad Sabu’s comment was that this was just an attempt by PAS to distract from their own problems. This is true, but that headline is nowhere near strong enough, and was also used as a weak and ineffective response by BN politicians when they were in government.
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution (photo) did a bit better when he characterised PAS as practising wiper politics (a laudably imaginative metaphor), with regard to their contradictory stances regarding who they support politically.
This brings to mind George W Bush accusing John Kerry of constantly flip-flopping, perhaps one of the more memorable and effective attacks of the 2004 US presidential elections.
Saifuddin is on the right track in ignoring PAS’ attacks - responding to which should never take more than one or two sentences - and pressing PAS instead on areas in which it is weak and vulnerable.
The leader of an Islamist party telling outright lies in public? Taking money from Umno secretly while condemning Umno? Flip-flopping between supporting and fighting Mahathir?
Even for the most amateur of political communicators, making worthwhile political hay from these scandals should be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Attack in public, fix in private
While Harapan should continue pressing these points about PAS in public, in private it should look to its own weaknesses and fix its vulnerabilities.
It is no coincidence that PAS is trying to widen cracks within Harapan, because it is there that Harapan is most vulnerable.
The biggest challenge facing Harapan today may well be maintaining political unity.
The reason Nik Abduh and Khalil are making such outlandish suggestions is because Harapan internal unity is not yet fully convincing.
So many factions within Harapan are pulling in different political directions; when there is even the smallest crack visible, a good political communicator is able to make that molehill into a mountain.
With Bersatu’s acceptance of Umno MPs, their move into Sabah, PKR deputy president Azmin Ali’s manoeuvrings and semi-obsession with Mahathir, and other such moves in the dark, the raw material is there.
Harapan should plug these leaks and vulnerabilities in private, and start getting much, much savvier at political communication in public.
NATHANIEL TAN is director of Media and Communications at EMIR Research (www.emirresearch.com), a think tank focused on data-driven policy research.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
Nat is right. Why are the crooks and liars dictating the discourse in our media? People like Hadi and Nik Abduh should be hiding and cringing in shame and embarrassment but instead they are still talking like they are heroes. The press/online media has to take part of the blame for not giving enough prominence to the SarawakReport-Hadi's settlement which effectively said that Sarawak Report is right. PH has to quickly learn to strike while the iron is hot!
Amanah should initiate a vote of no confidence on the taliban for incessant lies.
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