REMBAU: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government must be able to accept criticism even if it comes from one of its own leaders, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.
The PH de facto leader said that the government must tear down the old mindset and create a “new culture” whereby people could “give advice and air their views” freely.
“I also give advice, and I tell (the government) to work hard. We have to shed the old Umno way of thinking. (Last time), when people scolded us, we started to panic,” he told reporters during a walkabout at Kampung Felda Sendayan near Rantau here, today.
“For example, yesterday, I asked (Communications and Multimedia Minister) Gobind Singh Deo about this and that. I told him about the need to improve Internet access and that he should do something about it.
“(Gobind) took my advice well," he added.
Anwar was commenting on PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli’s statement on Thursday in which he said the government lacks an effective communication strategy to counter the racist and Malay-Muslim-centric sentiments advanced by Umno and Pas.
Speaking during a forum held in conjunction with PH’s Rantau by-election campaign at Bandar Sri Sendayan near Rantau here, last night, Rafizi said the dominance of Umno and Pas’s narrative is due to Cabinet ministers’ inability to address bread-and-butter issues.
He added that this has led to the emergence of fence-sitters, who voted out Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno in the last general election over alleged corruption, but had lately become disillusioned by the PH government’s failure to fulfil some of its promises.
“I want to warn our ministers. One of the main reasons why Umno and Pas’s racist narrative has become dominant in the last 10 months is because the ministers had either failed to address issues or had explained them improperly.
“That’s why we have become targets of attacks,” said the founder of Invoke Malaysia.
Rafizi cited issues such as the increase in prices of goods, as well as jewellery linked to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He said the Malays, who make up the bulk of the fence-sitters due to the sheer size of the community’s population, are concerned about issues regarding corruption and abuse of power.
“(But) ministers have to be good at explaining. You are paid salaries to explain. If you can’t, find an official who can.
“We have to admit that we do not have a good communication strategy. That is why Umno and Pas raise many nonsensical issues as ammunition to influence the fence-sitters,” he added.
Rafizi said that after Umno and BN were booted out of government, the Malays wanted the new government to do more and fulfil its economic pledges.
“Is that wrong? No, it’s not. But it’s not wrong for the government to take some time (to fulfil these promises) because it has inherited many problems (from the previous administration),” he said.
Problems occurred when the government failed to explain these problems to the people, allowing such issues to be manipulated by the opposition, Rafizi added.