In search of 'Obama magic'

Change has come to America. Can change come to Malaysia as well?

This was the key question posed at a forum held in conjunction with the ‘Obama Magic’ marketing seminar featuring Roger Fisk, Obama’s presidential campaign National Director of Special Events.

“The election of Obama as president can only happen in the land of the free,” said panellist and former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim (right in photo) when asked whether Malaysia had its own version of Obama

“Hope and freedom and change come with a price. And the question is, are we prepared to pay the price? If we are not, then it will not come so easy.

“That price is not for any ‘Malaysian Obama’ (to decide). It is for the people to answer whether they are ready for that. We have a long way to go for freedom. We have elections every five years, but we need a lot more for the country to mature.

“Our leaders today talk of uniting the people. They talk of freedom and democracy but I do not see a genuine desire to see change. The reason why we are in a state of flux is because we do not have leadership that extols the virtues of honesty and integrity.”

Former New Straits Times Press Bhd group editor-in-chief turned blogger A Kadir Jasin was, however, more optimistic.

“We cannot deny that Malaysia has survived for 50 years because we allow gradual change to take place. I think change is happening in Malaysia.

“No party in this country, be it Umno or PKR or PAS or DAP can go back to doing things like in the old days now… The flip side of not changing is death. I think even Umno can change.”

Association of Accredited Advertising Agents president Vincent Lee commented that one of the key ingredients to change is the freeing of the media.

"We keep talking about the free media. But I think what we need to do here is to free the media,” he said.

“(Also) a strong democracy needs a strong two-party system. And a strong two-party system needs strong representation in the media.

“Right now, we have a lopsided media whereby the mainstream press is mainly aligned to BN while the online media and the blogs are mainly aligned to the opposition.”

Advice for Najib

Moderator and Malaysiakini CEO Premesh Chandran asked the panellists what advice they would offer to incoming premier Najib Abdul Razak.

There was general agreement that Najib will have to work extra hard to bring change to Malaysia.

"There will be no honeymoon for Najib because he is taking over at the most tumultuous time (since independence). The government must start telling the truth to the rakyat, ” said Kadir.

Zaid said Najib should be a leader for the country and not just of a particular party.

R Nadeswaran, TheSun special investigations editor, remarked that the people are responsible for delivering the change they want.

“You deserve the ‘donkeys’ you have elected. The majority voted for those they thought would deliver, and if they do not deliver, you are to blame. The government was not elected by the minority. It was elected by the majority.

“There is hope for change, but every time we find a man we can place our hopes on, he gets shot down.”

The seminar, held last Sunday, featured presentations of the campaign strategies planned by Fisk.

He said Obama’s campaign was successful not only because it was well received by the free media but because it focused on local and organic “low-donor” campaigns that lowered the threshold of participation.

“A good campaign can be stronger with a free media, but a free media cannot make a strong campaign, and nothing replaces human interaction,” he said.

He added that people-to-people connection such as getting support door-to-door and building volunteer networks are still important to the success of any political campaign. He cited the integral role of the mybarackobama.com website as an example.

Fisk also emphasised the importance of being truthful to the people and respecting the people’s views.

“We knew who we were. We didn’t define ourselves as reflective of what the competition wasn’t. Either people agreed with us or they didn’t,” he added.