“Elections are about choices. Draw a contrast with your opponent on an issue that is important to the segment of voters who will decide the election and you will win.”

- Bob Franks, US politician

COMMENT | Public comments by Pakatan Harapan pundits, supporters and politicians of late have been in defending, extolling and cajoling the new world order of Harapan politics to an electorate which is divided along racial and religious lines. The fight over the urban voters, the traditional base of oppositional politics since the opposition become a viable threat to the Umno hegemon, has taken a new turn with the inclusion of Bersatu and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad into Harapan.

The Undirosak movement, an apathetic youth demographic, and as highlighted in the theSundaily recently - registered voters who do not bother exercising their right to vote - is a boon for the Umno state. Mind you, this is not the fault of those mentioned but rather the fault of the opposition. The only way to get pass the gerrymandering, the voter fraud and the myriad of elections “strategies” of the establishment, is to overwhelm the system with numbers.

Implying that people who do not vote are akin to old maids or that some folks are waiting for Mr Right in terms of their politicians are not going to get people to vote, and more importantly, getting fence-sitters to consider giving their vote to your side.

What happens if the apocalypse does not come the day after an Umno win? What happens if the economy strengthens after an Umno win? The opposition would look like morons who would say anything to win and this would be used by Umno to further the narrative that the opposition always cries wolf and then blames the establishment when things do not go their way.

I give you an example. Instead of constructing silly analogies about sunscreen and the country is on fire, what DAP leader Hannah Yeoh should have done, is write in great detail about the legislative reforms in Selangor that Harapan has carried. How the Selangor government did not take voters for granted. And how not taking perpetual rule into account is reflected in the policy decision of the Harapan state government. You know, the very things that were mentioned in passing in her article before all the pleas to emotion and dire warnings took centre stage.

This way people can actually see there is a difference between Harapan-led state governments and BN state governments. This way, opposition supporters get talking points when they attempt to defend the record of Harapan as a viable opposition instead of pleas to emotion and using straw man arguments. This way the opposition in a constructive manner engages with people, who at this moment think there is no difference between paella and soggy fried rice.

And do not say silly stuff like people know the difference between the two - Umno and Harapan. The Umno hegemon does not want to talk about issues because they do not have a good track record. If the Harapan state governments can change the narrative and focus on issues, more people would participate and vote because the atmosphere would be less toxic and it will not be only about rehashing history that the opposition cannot credibly defend beyond saying "trust us...