SEREMBAN, Aug 1 — All Pakatan Harapan (Harapan) leaders will take collective responsibility for the coalition’s defeat in the Negeri Sembilan state election, its election director Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said tonight.
He said the coalition’s leadership, from the highest level down to the grassroots, would shoulder responsibility collectively.
He stressed that no individual, group, community or faction would be singled out for blame.
“As the leaders of Pakatan Harapan, we all take collective responsibility. It is not about pointing fingers at any person, group, community or any clique.
“We will take responsibility collectively, from the top leadership to the grassroots of the organisation,” he told reporters at the Harapan command centre here tonight.
According to unofficial results, PH won 11 of 36 seats it contested in the election, while Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) secured 18 and seven seats respectively.
Commenting on the factors behind the defeat, Amirudin, who is also Selangor Menteri Besar, said the coalition had done its best to convey its message through social media, mainstream media and extensive house-to-house campaigning by its candidates.
He said the coalition was confident its election manifesto had been widely distributed across Negeri Sembilan, but acknowledged that it failed to resonate as a key campaign issue.
“Unfortunately, the manifesto did not become a topic of discussion. Instead, the debate centred more on whether this was about Malays or non-Malays, or whether people supported DAP or not,” he said.
The Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president said the outcome was neither a “blue wave” nor a “green wave”, but rather reflected politics centred on identity.
He said the coalition would use the roughly one year remaining before the next general election to realign its political messaging, with greater emphasis on the government’s performance, policies and service delivery.
“I hope the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and our team can realign our political message to make sure we go back to focus on values, performance, data and the government’s service to the people,” he said, adding that Harapan would also turn its attention to preparations for the Melaka state election.
A total of 103 candidates contested the 36 state seats in the election.
In the 2023 state election, Harapan won 17 seats, followed by BN (14) and PN (five).
