pywong
25th May 2009, 07:15 PM
Najib feels that it is better to give walkover than to be whacked in by-elections.
BN turns down the heat
By Leslie Lau
Consultant Editor
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — After successive by-election defeats in just over a year, the thinking behind the strategies of the Barisan Nasional (BN) is now gravitating towards the new dictum that you cannot lose if you do not play.
“BN leaders feel that as long as they don’t make a big deal of elections they will not be swaying to Anwar’s beat,” said a source familiar with BN strategies.
Since March 2008, when BN lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and saw the rise of an alternative coalition in the form of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the ruling coalition has lost four out of five by-elections.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the local media have been asked to focus on the economy and other non-political stories.
The new media strategy has already taken effect with newspapers not giving the current Penanti by-election the kind of intense coverage usually associated with such campaigns.
The Najib administration is particularly concerned with how PR parties have been able to shape public perception even in the early days of him taking power.
His 1 Malaysia has come under heavy attack and appears still-born even though there are now plans to start a campaign to win public support.
By trying to lower the political temperature, the Najib administration will be hoping to erase such images from the public eye. More… (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/27573-bn-turns-down-the-heat)
BN turns down the heat
By Leslie Lau
Consultant Editor
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — After successive by-election defeats in just over a year, the thinking behind the strategies of the Barisan Nasional (BN) is now gravitating towards the new dictum that you cannot lose if you do not play.
“BN leaders feel that as long as they don’t make a big deal of elections they will not be swaying to Anwar’s beat,” said a source familiar with BN strategies.
Since March 2008, when BN lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and saw the rise of an alternative coalition in the form of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the ruling coalition has lost four out of five by-elections.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the local media have been asked to focus on the economy and other non-political stories.
The new media strategy has already taken effect with newspapers not giving the current Penanti by-election the kind of intense coverage usually associated with such campaigns.
The Najib administration is particularly concerned with how PR parties have been able to shape public perception even in the early days of him taking power.
His 1 Malaysia has come under heavy attack and appears still-born even though there are now plans to start a campaign to win public support.
By trying to lower the political temperature, the Najib administration will be hoping to erase such images from the public eye. More… (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/27573-bn-turns-down-the-heat)