Sabah DAP can’t do without SAPP

LATELY, there have been a series of not-so-friendly exchanges between DAP Member of Parliament Dr Hiew King Chiew and the opposition SAPP. These unfriendly exchanges, thankfully, do not involve other DAP personalities. It is, therefore, not a war of words between two opposition parties but merely one voice against the SAPP.

I don't know what this mud slinging is all about but at a crucial time when the opposition leaders should be working as a team to take on the might of the BN, you have this unnecessary split surfacing. 

Let us be honest about this. At this point in time, the DAP needs the SAPP more then the reverse. The objective of the SAPP is to be a part of a coalition government at State level while the DAP and its partners have set their sights on Putrajaya.

Whoever has more Parliamentary seats will form the Federal Govemment. The SAPP can afford to forgo being a coalition partner at State level and remain an opposition party but can the DAP give up the opportunity to rule the country?

SAPP need only be a spoiler in every Parliamentary seat and the alternative front would lose out to the BN in areas where the margins will be close. After all, SAPP does not aspire to capture Putrajaya.

All said and done, it will boil down to the key word - Branding. How the Rakyat perceives you and accepts you is going to make the difference. Not the mud slinging. If you are publicly endorsed by political higher ups or people who curry favour with you, that is not branding. That is patronage.if you gloat about yourself and get your own people to stand behind you, that is also no use. That would be creating a false impression and you are only fooling yourself. Just because you hand out goodies to certain people and are, therefore, endorsed by them in the process, that is also no use as it may be insincere.

What really is how your voters see you as a brand. This also involves “mind positioning". If in the eyes of the public you are branded as arrogant and greedy, that is how you would be positioned in the minds of the public.

So it does not matter how much mud slinging you do. It is not going to change how people perceive you.

Daily Express

Sunday, October 23, 2011

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