KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — Malay support for Perikatan Nasional (PN) has plateaued and the Opposition coalition must rehabilitate its image with the non-Malays in order to compensate, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Youth wing chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Kamal said.

Acknowledging his coalition’s use of conservative politics for support previously, he told Malay Mail in a recent interview that the coalition could treat the Kuala Kubu Baru by-election on May 11 as a launchpad to convince Malaysia that PN could also offer more.

"I think all the parties, Bersatu, PN and PAS, we have commenced our retreat and we have studied the results and we know. We have done very well in terms of playing the conservative card, but that is not going to take us further. It’s already at a stagnant level. So now what we are trying to do is to try and understand the other side of the coin. How to manage and persuade the non-Malay voters to believe that PN is not racist, intolerant as what we are perceived to be.

"Politically, of course we understand the dynamics. Why would PN, Bersatu or PAS push our narrative to the furthest right, when we already have substantial support from the Malay voters? We cannot add more, but we badly need non-Malay voters and support,” he said.

He said the onus was now on him and others in PN to engage with non-Malays and win them over to the coalition’s point of view in national matters.

His remarks also appeared to explain his coalition’s restraint over the "Allah” socks controversy, in which political rivals Umno has caused controversy through the party’s Youth chief, Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh’s insistence on boycotting the KK Mart convenience chain over the incident.

The Umno Youth chief has also refused to call off the boycott even after three KK Mart outlets were firebombed and Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim’s decree to not prolong the controversy.

"Basically, our response has been adequate [on the ‘Allah’ socks issue] and the voters know. The non-Malay voters know. But it depends on the non-Malay voters,” Wan Ahmad Fayhsal said.

"If they were to think that we are still evil, we are still the far-right, conservative, intolerant groups of Muslim-Malay leaders, I can’t force them to accept us.”

He expressed hope that the campaign for Kuala Kubu Baru will be the start of the conversation to win non-Malays over to PN’s side and to dispel their suspicion towards the coalition.

Wan Ahmad Fayhsal put down the mistrust to both an unfamiliarity with his coalition and its objectives, along with what he alleged to be media bias.

"Because the media, whether social media or mainstream media, highlighted only one segment of our struggle. As if we are only championing ‘3R’ issues,” he said, referring to matters concerning race, religion and royalty.

Beyond communications, however, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal also conceded that PN’s shadow Cabinet — which the coalition calls a portfolio subcommittee — must do more to convince Malaysians about the coalition’s plans for governing the country.

"Our performance has been, to me, subpar. I’m not too happy, collectively speaking, with my teammates. I think we have not performed to the best of our ability, in terms of our research, in terms of our arguments, in terms of policy and proposals.

"That is why some people would say that KJ (Khairy Jamaluddin) is more effective as a check-and-balance outside the Parliament. I could agree with that, but I think we are learning,” he said.

Still, he said Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin has done much to bring the coalition’s federal lawmakers up to standard, so that there would be quality to their debate in Parliament.

Saying there was already improvement between last year’s parliamentary meetings and the one ended last month, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal predicted that the next meeting would see even better performance from his colleagues, especially the first-term MPs.

"So they would just have to find their tune in Parliament,” he added.

The Kuala Kubu Baru by-election was called after the death of the seat’s incumbent, Lee Kee Hiong from DAP, on March 21.