PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli said it is time for Pakatan Harapan to give more focus to issues that concern the Malay community, particularly on their position and welfare.

Speaking at a forum titled:'Can the opposition win Malay votes in the 14th general election?', Rafizi admitted that the opposition coalition had previously been cautious and was not overt in approaching the issue.

"But we can no longer keep doing that. They (Malays) want a direct answer and we have to give a direct answer.

"We must face the reality that we must voice out the concerns of the Malay community," he said.

Rafizi ( photo ) added that going forward, Malay issues must be dealt with collectively by Harapan and not delegated to Malay-majority component parties like the BN model.

"We cannot use the same Umno-BN method to defeat Umno-BN's racial game.

"We cannot delegate Malay Muslims to Parti Amanah Negara, Chinese to DAP and urbanites to PKR. When we address Malay issues, about their fears, the three parties must speak collectively," he said.

Echoing this was Harapan secretariat chief secretary, Saifuddin Abdullah, who said the coalition must present a new Malay narrative that does not rely on the ones written by the government.

"Harapan needs to change the Malay narrative to one where Malays are not reliant on others, to one where they are empowered and do not need guardians.

"In Malay politics, needing a governor and governance differs from Malays needing a guardian," he said.

DAP can't shoot self in foot

DAP's Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming also acknowledged the need for his Chinese-majority party to court Malay voters and stressed that the DAP cannot shoot itself in the foot.

He cited, as an example, Perak DAP economic development bureau chief Chong Zhemin who had condemned the government for barring Israeli athletics, something that is noteworthy for the Malay Muslim community due to the Palestine issue.

"When DAP leaders read the statement, we were shocked as DAP has a long history of condemning Israel on Palestine.

"When the statement came out, we had to do a lot of internal containment. Amanah and PKR protested and we had to advise the young leader to retract his statement," he said.

Ong ( photo ) added that DAP leaders are also pushing to increase the party's Malay and bumiputera membership which will help shed the "chauvinist" perception against the party.

However, he acknowledged the effort to increase bumiputera membership to 50 percent was not well received by some old DAP members, posing an internal dilemma for DAP.

"For the external dilemma, if DAP succeeds in attracting many Malay members, there are also outsiders who may not be happy.

"For example, Johor Amanah recently asked DAP not to put Malay candidates in state seats for the next general election," he said.

Ong said these dilemmas must be addressed if DAP wants to achieve success within Pakatan Harapan.

Meanwhile, Amanah information chief Khalid Samad lamented that Malays still fear the risk of losing power if Harapan becomes the government.

He said this is despite Malays being in control of most institutions.

"It is best to set aside this myth... then we can move forward faster," he said.