The government communications team failed badly to explain the actual situation to the people and build on the goodwill that brought it to power.
Former Pakatan Harapan advisor, Tun Daim Zainuddin said the biggest failure by PH was its complete lack of communications strategy between itself and the public.
Because of this, he said there was distrust among the component parties in PH and the public, giving the then opposition the opportunity to stir up racial and religious fears.
Daim, who headed the Council of Eminent Persons, says in many instances, Pakatan was probably its own worst enemy.
“The draw of party interests back then, he says, far exceeded the interests of the government and the people, leading to many good initiatives being compromised along the way.
“The PH government started off well and did a lot of things right. The biggest achievement, in my view, was in reducing corruption. We are no longer known as a kleptocratic nation,” he said.
Although PH had made missteps during its administration, Daim chalked it up to the inexperience of its leaders in the federal government.
However, these leaders were already learning fast and starting to improve, but this was cut short when it was brought down by a bloodless coup in the last week of February.
“The biggest failure to me was how the government communications team failed badly to explain the actual situation to the people and build on the goodwill that brought it to power. The government squandered the trust given to it.
“Instead of setting the narrative, the government was forever reacting to events and agendas it could not control nor had any control over.
“The breakdown in communication and the communication gap between the government and rakyat was indeed a lost opportunity,” he said.
He said there was also so much good going on but the noise from both the then opposition and the unhappy members of certain parties, gave the impression this was a disunited government, a clueless government or a government beset with infighting.
“If they have had a better communication team who could explain the policies and the programmes undertaken, people would have at least understood the difference between the empty noise outside and the hard work going on inside.
“Certain institutional reforms have been implemented, and some are in the pipeline. However, those reforms could not be fulfilled due to a change of government halfway through PH’s mandate.
“Also, many of the other initiatives including those that began well, were compromised somewhere along the way. In many ways, PH was probably its own worst enemy,” he said.
He also said the PH government was brought down by those who wanted political power for their own personal gain.
These personalities, he said used race and religion as justification for their actions.
Examples of such manufactured racial and religious rhetoric were that PH was side-lining the Malay community and that it was anti-Islam.
These divisive perceptions were peddled by Malay nationalist party Umno and conservative Islamist party PAS, both of which are in the current Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, he said.
However, Daim is confident that Malaysian voters, especially younger ones, will be able to see through the racial rhetoric by parties such as Umno and PAS.
These were among Daim’s observations on PH’s performance during its 22 months in power and which he shared during a recent interview.
He said the PH fall was not due to a conspiracy that had its fundamentals in racism and religious bigotry, although it was a convenient war cry.
“The takeover was mainly caused by the need of certain political personalities to take control of power for personal reasons, but this is politics.
Race and religion were used to justify their actions because these were convenient narratives. Throughout the world, we are witnessing the same mentality being used to wield political power – driving the majority to fear minority groups and then blaming them for any troubles that arise.
But I have more faith in our young people. I don’t believe that this sentiment is widespread among our young,” he said.
Daim said the young have the world at their fingertips and they can see the effects of racism such as what is happening in the US now.
“I believe Malaysian youth as well as the population at large are very sensible and like to live peacefully and are now more worried about the implications brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced them into facing a very uncertain and scary future.
However, I don’t think that you can use race and religion for long in place of economic and social policies. After a while, people want to know how the government’s plans to put food on the table, a roof over their heads, educate their children and take care of their future,” he said.
To combat problems where races are pitted against each other for political expediency and political and economic status quo, Daim said our future should be based on an education system which should teach the young of the Malaysian consciousness, to act and behave as Malaysians and to get to know the various cultures and celebrate them together so that Malaysians understand each other.
“We need an education that encourages them to think logically, to compete and to be confident of themselves. Our education system should fight against ignorance, parochialism, intolerance.
“Good morals, ethics and values embedded in a good, sound education, together with government policies that create employment for the rakyat with a good income, then it will surely diminish the politics of race over time.
“When everyone is doing well, then you will not look at your neighbour and think he is taking away opportunities from you,” he added.