The weapon called PUBLIC PERCEPTION

OPINION

'PAIN'. Every human experiences 'pain'. It can be in any forms. But no one likes to be in whatever sort of pain (normal people, ok?), yet have we really asked ourselves why God created this very annoying 'pain' feeling?

1. The function of 'PAIN'

What happened when our hands accidentally touched a boiling kettle? A 'pain' signal will be generated instantly to our brain to tell us to initiate a reaction to pull our hands off the boiling kettle to prevent further damage. This 'pain' signal also tells us that putting our hands on a boiling kettle is going to hurt no matter how many times you try it in the future. Because the 'pain' is painful enough hence from that moment on, we tend to be extra careful when we are dealing with boiling kettle.

Ok now, lets imagine if 'pain' does not exist in us. Using the same scenario, our hand accidentally touches a boiling kettle but this time no 'pain' signal is generated. Perhaps by the time we realize what has happened, our hands has been badly burnt.

So there you have it. 'Pain' is a actually a good thing to have. It gives us a signal that we were doing something wrong. 'Pain' tells us that we need to change what we are doing, or else we'll get burnt severely if we choose to ignore it. But for us to really heed this 'pain' signal seriously, this 'pain' signal must be painful enough to stick to our mind.

Bagan Pinang's humiliation is a 'pain' signal that there were something wrong with you, PAS and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in general. Perhaps this 'pain' is trying to tell you that there was something terribly wrong with the way you were approaching things.

But, is this 'pain' painful enough to warrant a reaction from PAS and PR to change their attitudes? I hope it does but it remains to be seen.

2. Decrypting Bagan Pinang's 'pain' signal

What is this Bagan Pinang's 'pain' signal about? If you have been reading around, I'm sure you found most writers blamed PAS for the loss. These words beer, concerts, Taliban, SELCAT, unity government, flip-flop and not-trustworthy were the most commonly used as the reason for the humiliating defeat. Yes PAS, some of you argued that it was not fair to blame you entirely for the loss because when you were winning, others tried to claim credits as well. This I agreed to a certain extent, but you held the most responsibility for this loss because you had clumsily lost an invaluable 'weapon' even before you went into battle in Bagan Pinang.

So, what was the invaluable 'weapon' you lost even before you lost Bagan Pinang? Plain and simple, you had lost THE WEAPON CALLED PUBLIC PERCEPTION.

3. How powerful is this 'weapon'?

Without this 'weapon' in hand, no voters would want to listen to what you have to say. Even when you were reporting an assault case, people were doubting whether it was real until you had to explain it like it was a staged controversy. Without this weapon, you could not defend yourself against being blamed as the culprit who caused the defeat.

And worst of all, everything you said from now on, will be viewed with suspicious eyes even though it is your utmost sincerity statement. A truth from you could be turn into a lie by your enemies with ease. A lie about you could turn into truth by your enemies as well.

Without this weapon, you can only be in defensive mode all the time. And PAS, you lost your attacking position in politics because you clumsily lost this 'weapon' due to some controversial statements made without analysing.

Somehow PAS has different fractions that managed to held on to this 'weapon' in their own state. For instance, PAS's Kelantan certainly still has its grip on this 'weapon' in Kelantan, where else we saw PAS's Terengganu lost this 'weapon' entirely until now - even in 2008 when PR managed to win 5 states in Peninsular Malaysia, PAS still lost badly in Terengganu.

On the other hand, with this 'weapon' in hand, you can reflect back on history, how Dr M used this weapon to held on to power during Anwar's removal from UMNO and Malaysia's politics. Besides that, don't forget that this is the 'weapon' that massacred most of the PAS politicians in 2003, when Pak Lah took over from Dr M.

All the examples above just showed that this 'weapon' is a force to be reckon with. Afterall, there's a saying ,Politics is all about perceptions. the most important weapon in politics before you got butchered in Bagan Pinang.

4. 'Weapon' has to be earned

PAS, PKR and DAP generally suffered from the same problem of not having the right public perception over the past many many years until March 2008. From 2006 to 2008, UMNO basically fell in love with the keris and ditched this 'weapon' at their own peril. They failed to realize this 'weapon' is much more powerful than their traditional keris.

Pak Lah forgot that this was the 'weapon' Dr M used to keep him and BN in power. In fact, this was the 'weapon' that kept them in power for 50 years. Pak Lah let this 'weapon' slipped away (perhaps while he was sleeping) from BN and it landed on PR's lap by chance.

BN dropped this 'weapon' intentionally and to their horror this 'weapon' helped to give birth to PR. And PR managed to snatch 5 states away from BN because of this 'weapon'. But PR has to remember, they did not earn this weapon on their own merit, they got this 'weapon' purely because UMNO preferred to kiss its new keris.

PR must learn to appreciate and maintain this 'weapon' in good condition at all cost. This 'weapon' is very fragile in nature, but powerful enough to win most of the election battles for PR before Bagan Pinang.

Unfortunately, PR did not realize the importance of maintaining this 'weapon' in great condition. 19 months later after March 08, PAS lost its sight on this 'weapon'. PKR seems to be losing grip on this 'weapon' too with so much infighting news flying around. Perhaps only DAP is still able to held on to this 'weapon' but sweat is making it slippery on its hands as well.

PR, don't you guys realize that this 'weapon' is suppose to be your main aim in politics? This 'weapon' alone can bring you a lot of votes. Working for votes won't be effective if you do not have this 'weapon' in hand. Fighting for 'votes' alone won't give you this 'weapon' as well. This 'weapon' cannot be obtained by any last minute works and lip services during election. It requires a lot of discipline to do the right thing all the time to EARN this 'weapon'.

PR must retain this 'weapon' by working on the right policies and stick together through their marriage. PR must have faith in their marriage, and throw away the word divorce from their vocabulary. There's no two ways about it. Work to maintain this 'weapon' in good condition, and I assure you the votes will come naturally.

After Bagan Pinang, has BN regained control over this 'weapon'? Fortunately they haven't. Yes, they won the election largely due to the popularity of Tan Sri Isa, but because of him too, this 'weapon' has yet to reach their hands.

For the past 19 months, PR seemed to be complacent that this 'weapon' is going to be in their hands as long as they continue to bash BN to eternity. But if PR continues to be in disarray, BN may not need to work hard for this 'weapon' to reunite with them - as this 'weapon' may just slipped away from PR just like it slipped away from BN in 2008.

PR, please stop working for votes instead focus your work to improve and maintain this 'weapon' by displaying your good governance, excellent cooperation, realibility and fairness to all Malay-sians alike.

It is not hard to maintain this 'weapon' you just need to:

1. Convince us that you are not a marriage of convenience.

2. Convince us that you have what it takes to rule Malaysia.

3. Convince us that the future is better with you in charge rather than BN.

Do keep in mind that this 'weapon' is your ultimate ingredient to Putrajaya.

5. Shed the fear of losing 'old support' (support of certain communities that belonging to certain ideologies).

PAS, PKR and DAP all have their difficulties to 'change' to adapt to the new expectation from voters in their hope for a better Malaysia. Strangely enough, their difficulties were quite common among them.

Their main obstacle to 'change' is a 'fear' - the 'fear of losing old support'. Sigh, I find it hard to reason with them on this, because most of them have the same feeling that if this marriage fails, they can always fall back on their old support to remain relevant in Malaysia. It is like an insurance plan to them. To them 'change' and 'marriage' has its risks. Therefore, they are very hesitant to budge away from their hardcore ideologies.

But, please do us a favour to ask yourself this question, where has the old support brings you so far in Malaysia besides forever residing as an opposition for 50 years to BN on federal level? If Tok Guru Nik Aziz dares to laud his multi-racial policies to embrace PR (PAS rules Kelantan without PR for nearly 20 years, mind you!) despite his fears of 'losing old support', why are you guys hesitating to do the same?

Yes, it is proven that you would lose some 'old support' (Manek Urai won by 65 votes), but you could not deny the fact that 'new support' (support from all Malaysians) let you win comfortably (4000+ votes in Permatang Pasir) with this 'weapon' in hand. And evidently, you could see in Bagan Pinang, without the 'weapon' in hand, you lost with a embarassing majority of 5435 because the 'new support' deserted you.

For over so many years, it is also proven that 'old support' gets you nowhere near Putrajaya. The 'new support' that came into picture in 2008 will get you there if you can maintain this 'weapon' on your side till GE13.

PR, you need to get your act together, and say "I do" in your marriage and work together hand-in-hand to protect this 'weapon' from falling back into BN's hands by doing the right things and always seen to be fighting on issues along multi-racial lines. You can't go wrong as long as you stick to the 1-Malaysian (note the extra 'n') concept I lauded in my previous article.

Now, the question is whether PAS, PKR and DAP have enough wisdom to know that there are times when their ideals need to be temporarily sacrificed in the name of friendship, greater good, or simple common sense to maintain the ultimate 'weapon'- PUBLIC PERCEPTION in their hands?

Penulis adalah seorang pemuda bukan Islam yang sangat minat dengan politik PAS tetapi mempunyai pandangan tersendiri terhadap parti Islam ini