PAS fails Tenang test, lesson for Pakatan

Instead of sticking to the agreement on seat allocations, Pakatan should consider fielding the best man for the job in the upcoming Merlimau polls.

COMMENT

After being outclassed by Umno in the Tenang by-election, Pakatan Rakyat must consider revising its strategy if it wants to make an impact in the upcoming Merlimau state seat by-election in Malacca.

Critics blamed the internal strife in Pakatan for the dismal performance in Tenang, which saw Barisan Nasional (BN) retaining the seat with an increased majority.

If there was any impact, it was minimal, especially among the Felda and estate voters. The chief cause, however, was the failed campaign strategy formulated solely by Johor PAS.

It is an open secret among the Pakatan leadership that PKR was not given a prominent role in the campaign.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a PKR leader and a PAS leader admitted that the PAS leadership decided that PKR not be allowed to campaign in Malay-dominated areas.

Instead PKR was only allowed to campaign in areas with mixed population, while DAP was asked to concentrate on the Chinese-majority areas.

But since racially-mixed areas were a scracity in the constituency, PKR’s role in Tenang was slashed.

The reason for this was because PAS felt that the Malays in Johor were not accustomed to PKR’s aggressive style of campaigning.

PAS thought that it stood a better chance of capturing Malay votes with its “tarbiyah” approach, or heart-to-heart talk with the voters.

“I admit that we still need PKR to pull in Malay votes, the so-called soft-approach by PAS doesn’t really work,” said the PAS leader. “We lacked the firepower to counter BN’s assault.”

As for Merlimau, the PAS leader said he felt that PKR should contest the seat since PAS had failed in the Tenang and Bagan Pinang by-elections.

Field PKR candidate

Meanwhile, the senior Malacca PKR leader urged the Pakatan presidential candidate to field the right candidate for Merlimau irrespective of the party.

“We have done a survey, and Pakatan grassroots want a PKR candidate. In fact, most PAS branches in Merlimau want a PKR candidate because they feel PKR can do better there. Unfortunately, the state PAS and national PAS Youth leaders feel otherwise,” he said.

However, he added that if the candidate was from PAS, PKR would throw its full backing behind the person in the spirit of Pakatan.

To be fair to PAS, the dwindling of Chinese support for PAS in Tenang was mainly due to only 50% of Chinese voters turning up at the polling stations.

Due to lack of transport provided by the authorities during the flood, many could not make it in time to cast their ballots. The authorities were said to be focusing on ferrying the flood-hit Felda inhabitant, who were traditional BN voters.

If Tenang was not drenched in rain, the outcome could have been different, at least in terms of BN’s majority in the seat, which is considered a ruling coalition stronghold.

The handing out of expensive hampers on a daily basis to voters in Felda and the estates also played a significant role in swinging the votes in BN’s direction.

So in the final analysis, Pakatan is facing its adversary on an uneven playing field, so perhaps a revision of strategy is needed, especially on seat allocation. - FMT