KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) parties are better off contesting the 14th general election (GE14) under their respective party logos if the coalition fails to be registered in time, political observers said.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Assoc Prof Faisal Hazis said he felt the “silver lining” in the delayed registration of PH was that the respective parties — PKR, DAP, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) — will be able to use their own logos, instead of adopting a common logo which he felt would be better suited for the 15th general election.

“Because within this short period of time, if you want to contest under new logo, because at the end of the day, election is also about political marketing.

“Without strong branding, it will be difficult for voters to accept you or even recognise you. It’ll not be a problem in urban areas, but we know the battleground is in rural areas,” he told Malay Mail when contacted recently, pointing out that some of the Opposition parties, such as PKR, already have an established branding in certain rural areas.

He cited as example the 2011 Sarawak state elections, where voters did not recognise the logo of the now-defunct opposition party Sarawak National Party (SNAP) despite its decades-long existence in the state previously as a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party, noting that the national opposition party, PKR, fared better in the polls when compared against the state-based SNAP.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about grassroots presence and PKR despite being a national opposition party, it fared better than SNAP because of grassroots presence,” he said.

In PH, PKR and DAP are seasoned parties, whereas PPBM and Amanah will have their maiden run in GE14.

PH had applied last July to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to be registered as an official coalition with a common logo, but RoS had not responded. PH has now filed a lawsuit to compel RoS to reply or decide on the application, and the court case will be heard on April 5 — which is also the last day of the Dewan Rakyat’s current meeting.

As for PPBM, which is currently facing the risk of deregistration if they fail to submit required documents to the RoS by the end of the month, Faisal said that PPBM cannot contest under the DAP banner as “that will strengthen the notion that Pakatan is dominated by DAP, led by Chinese”.

“Another part is to look at demographics of voters in particular area, but I think it’s a straightforward case when it comes to DAP. I don’t think they will be going for DAP logo because they are quite aware of propaganda that BN is using against DAP,” he said.

As for whether PPBM would use Amanah or PKR logo for GE14, Faisal said the party would be open but would most likely go for PKR, also noting that it was logical to opt for the more established party over a relatively new party’s logo.

“Because if you look at the nature of the party itself (PPBM), although it uses Malay nationalism as their vehicle, their platform; but it views itself as quite a liberal party and Amanah would not mirror that kind of image.

He noted that PKR is a multi-ethnic party that is still dominated by Malays and contests in the similar type of seats that PPBM would contest in, such as Malay majority seats or Malay seats with a significant percentage of non-Malay voters.

Universiti Utara Malaysia’s Assoc Prof Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani said it was “illogical” that the PH parties would choose the logo of one of its parties, such as PKR, as their common logo to contest under.

“If the party is legal, allowed to contest, allowed to use own logo, even RoS have no problem with them, why do they need to contest under PKR?” he asked when contacted, noting however that Amanah and PPBM will have to work hard to introduce their relatively new parties to voters.

In the event PPBM is deregistered, its use of the DAP logo may help the latter get rid of its labels as a purportedly “racist” party, but BN would likely attack both parties as being willing to sacrifice their beliefs just to win the elections, he said.

Both DAP and PPBM’s different ideologies would also render this option unsuitable, which means that the Malay-dominated multiracial party PKR would be the best choice as both parties draw many of their leaders from the same pool of ex-Umno members and share similar approaches, he said.

Oh Ei Sun, principal adviser to the Pacific Research Centre, highlighted that Pakatan Rakyat (PR), which PH replaced, had made electoral gains even when they did not use a common logo in elections.

“I don’t think there is really an issue about a common PH logo versus each component party using their respective logos, as far as voter perception is concerned, as PH’s predecessor PR has rode to significant electoral achievement with each component party using their own respective logos. The important thing is only to impress upon voters that all the PH parties are on the same boat,” he said.

As for PPBM, Oh said it was fine for it to use the logo of any of its political allies, saying that “If by this stage it still matters which logo a candidate comes under, then PH might as well close shop.”

“The important thing is to get your candidates properly nominated. All other considerations secondary. If you think DAP does not create favourable impression among your voters, then don’t go under their logo. But do you have other choices? If you do and your friendly parties are supportive, then use their logos. If they are not, then what can you do? In which case PH would be in quite dire situation already.”

Penang Institute executive director Dr Ooi Kee Beng said PPBM would most probably avoid using the DAP logo as its targeted voters are the rural Malay community, adding that Amanah does not have the stature required and that PKR would be the preferred choice.

“In 2008 and 2013, there was no opposition coalition logo either, so in the campaigning, the parties can simply put their different logos together. For the voting slip, it may be best that each party uses its own logo, while PPBM borrows PKR’s. But it is a bit early to speculate on all of this,” he told Malay Mail when contacted.

But Datuk Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff, who heads PPBM’s policy and strategy bureau, confirmed that PH had already decided to use one single logo even if RoS does not register the pact.

“We will use one logo!” he told Malay Mail when contacted, adding that PH had pursued the registration as it is provided for under the RoS Act, despite the bid possibly being futile.

When asked which of the four PH parties’ logo would be used as the common logo, Rais merely confirmed that it has been decided on, but said it “will be announced. We have tactical consensus.”