KUALA LUMPUR – Former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli rubbished notions that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is popular among voters due to his “bossku” campaign and social media presence.
In fact, Rafizi said, Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is more popular among voters than the Pekan MP.
“Najib’s ratings as a prime ministerial candidate is low and he has the most negative perception among voters.
“There’s nothing to suggest he is really popular, there’s just a lack of counter-narrative against him.”
Instead, Rafizi suggested that Najib and his team have been actively creating a perception of popularity.
He said Najib makes sure there are crowds to greet him whenever he is on his visits.
Rafizi added that it is not Najib who is creating content on his social media page, but perhaps he has a team to help him do so.
“Nothing in the numbers suggests he is as popular.
“In fact, Muhyiddin is more popular with the voters.”
Rafizi then touched on Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) performance on social media, saying that the opposition coalition has fallen far behind its opponents since 2018.
He said social media requires constant and consistent content creation coupled with a narrative, which PH failed to do after winning the 2018 general election.
“When PH went into government, leaders who became ministers were busy with their portfolios and the amount of social media content dropped.
“PH supporters require continuous feeding of information so they can spread it or use it to counter opposing narratives.
“The final nail in the coffin was when PH’s popularity dwindled from one gaffe to another, giving ‘ammo’ to Najib and BN’s (Barisan Nasional) social media activists,” he said after the launch of the Ayuh Malaysia initiative late last night.
Ayuh Malaysia is a political initiative aimed at revitalising PH and PKR’s campaign with a focus towards fence-sitters in marginal constituencies.
Also present at the event were Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, Ledang MP Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, Johor Baru MP Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir and Tg Malim MP Chang Lih Kang.
The initiative also aims to pool volunteers by helping in digital campaigns and taking part as polling agents and counting agents, among others. – The Vibes, March 27, 2022
