Malaysians vote Dr M, Loke best PH communicators
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Transport Minister Anthony Loke were picked by Malaysians as the best communicators of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s policies.
In the independent survey on the PH ministers’ communication strategy by communications agency Citrine One Sdn Bhd, Malaysians were asked an openended question of which minister communicated his or her policies best, and to provide the reasons for the ministers named.
Out of the 20 ministers and deputy ministers that were named by respondents, Dr Mahathir came in first with 43 votes, followed closely by Loke at 41, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng at 24 votes and Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo at 22.
Yeo Bee Yin, the Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change, also received relatively high votes at 11.
Citrine One managing partner and crisis communications lead counsel Ivlynn Yap noted that Yeo has been shown to think things through before communicating her ministry’s policies.
Yap lauded Yeo as someone who “does her homework” before making announcements and commenting on issues, despite the latter having to juggle multiple portfolios under her ministry.
“You can see she does her homework because she is able to answer,” Yap said, citing Yeo’s handling of the Lynas rare earth refinery in Kuantan, Pahang as an example.
Yap noted that Yeo had first engaged with Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh to find out about the matter as well as the Attorney-General’s Chambers on legal matters linked to Lynas, which she said led to the Australian miner backing off from launching a lawsuit as Yeo “knows her stuff”.
“This is the kind of skill that we need from our ministers,” she said.
Yap also highlighted Gobind as another example of a minister who communicates well.
“Let’s say there’s an issue, he will immediately respond and manage the issue, so he gained the respect and trustworthiness from the public. So these are the top five,” she said of Gobind.
The survey respondents commonly described their top five Cabinet picks as being “clear”, “precise”, “concise”, “consistent” and making “no U-turns” when communicating their policies.
The other ministers named by survey respondents as communicating their policies best include Education Minister Maszlee Malik at nine votes, followed by eight votes for both Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who is also the women, family and community development minister.
Dr Wan Azizah’s deputy Hannah Yeoh and minister in charge of national unity and social wellbeing P. Waytha Moorthy both received five votes, followed by Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali at four votes, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad at three votes.
Those with two votes each were Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran, minister in charge of religion Datuk Mujahid Yusof and Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu while Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Ong Kian Ming, deputy minister in charge of religion Fuziah Salleh each had one.
In summing up the comments by respondents, Citrine One noted the general feedback received was that the new ministers were “merely announcing their plans rather than actually ‘communicating’” and that the public expects them to “properly explain their policies based on a reliable roadmap to justify their position as a credible improvement from the previous government”, with the latter practice being allegedly absent so far.