PETALING JAYA: The Semenyih by-election will put to the test the effectiveness of Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s new social media campaign.
The former prime minister’s attempted rebranding and image rehabilitation have drawn attention, and his popularity on social media seems to have made great gains.
However, whether people are actually taking the rebranded Najib seriously has yet to be determined.
His presence at Tesco Semenyih recently was the talk of the town, but his empty shopping trolley stunt soon backfired with many netizens questioning him about his contributions to the economy at the time.
Najib sarcastically claimed that he could not fill his trolley with RM50, and as netizens pointed out, neither could they (the netizens) when the Barisan Nasional coalition was in power.
His new media team has certainly pushed some buttons and one wonders what huge amounts he must have spent on this campaign.
One noticeable point of this new media campaign is the absence of his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor. She has never even once been seen or heard participating in any of his publicity stunts.
Semenyih will be a good marker to gauge just how much Najib has gained since the general election and also to what extent PH has actually dropped in popularity.
