PETALING JAYA, Jan 22 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil believes the government is winning the information war amid intense opposition attacks that some analysts think contributed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s dipping popularity.
In an interview with Malay Mail, the Lembah Pantai MP conceded that countering rivals’ race-based rhetoric has mostly been challenging.
Yet he feels at the end of it, good pro-people policies will ultimately win support while a good communication strategy merely plays a complimentary role.
“I think we’re doing what we can, and we can do much more... it’s understanding that we have different demographics and audiences to speak to. It’s to understand what matters most to them,” he said.
“I think it’s to make these policies into real tangible things that they can feel. That’s going to be our challenge... I think we can win that information war, we’re in a much better place than we were before but there’s still a long way to go.”
The Anwar administration is facing accusations of betraying its pledge for sweeping reform while more lower income voters think Anwar is not acting quickly enough to tackle cost of living pressure, which the Tambun MP vowed to be a top priority of his “unity government”.
In the interview with Malay Mail, the communications minister suggested sentiment would change to favour the government once many of its key policies begin to yield jobs and increase wages.
“To me the most basic thing that we need to attend to is related to jobs, wages — these very real deliverables,” he said.
“On top of that we are countering the blatant outright lies that are spreading at a rapid pace... times are different but the challenges remain the same.”
