After Bersih, Pakatan to launch pre-polls Hari Raya blitz
By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider
When thousands of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party members head home for the Hari Raya holidays next month, they will each be armed with specially-packed information kits and strict instructions from the opposition’s strategists.
Their mission: To launch a pre-election blitzkrieg for PR and keep the Bersih torch burning.
Their target: The Malay heartlands outside the capital.
The federal opposition hopes to get first dibs on campaigning for the Malay vote ahead of a general election expected soon and will trumpet PR’s reform agenda in areas they believe have limited access to information.
They will make full use of the Hari Raya holidays to do this and beginning from the month of Ramadan, PR members and supporters across the country will participate in “balik kampung” programmes aimed at spreading the “PR word”.
“Ramadan is not an excuse for us to sit back and relax. It is an important month for Muslims and Malays in Malaysia but besides our usual rituals and prayers, we must use the opportunity for our leaders and members to go back to their kampungs and bring with them these issues, these leaflets, to spread the PR word,” PKR deputy president Azmin Ali told The Malaysian Insider.
The Gombak MP said PKR has already prepared special information kits for the blitzkrieg, with each one explaining the chaos that erupted in the capital during Bersih’s July 9 rally and highlighting PR’s reform promises from its Buku Jingga.
“We also called our ‘Demi Rakyat’ programme directors from each party division to the headquarters last week and we gave them all these information kits and the details and our secretary-general has explained to them what to do,” he said.
