One eye on Sarawak, Pakatan resigned to by-election losses

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, Yow Hong Chieh and Shannon Teoh

March 02, 2011

PAS president Datuk Hadi Awang and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin shake hands after nominations were completed in Kerdau.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — With its heart and mind already focussed on crucial Sarawak polls — possibly a month away — a lethargic Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is counting the cost of campaigning in the ongoing twin by-elections.

The opposition pact seems loathe to pour resource into the March 6 vote in Kerdau and Merlimau, in the hope of making gains in the Borneo state to create momentum for a general election that is expected to be called within a year.

“Sarawak and the general election coming up and we need to save ourselves for the big elections,” PAS central committee member Dzulkefly Ahmad admitted to The Malaysian Insider.

PAS, which is contesting both state assembly seats which have no bearing on the respective state governments, is finding their finances stretched and election fatigue has set in for both leaders and the electorate.

Many of its top leaders have not yet made their presence felt since the campaign started proper on Saturday.

In Kerdau, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang attracted a crowd of about 400 for his ceramah on nomination day itself while the charismatic central committee member Mohamed Sabu achieved about a tenth of that subsequently.

Alarmingly for PR, both events had the appearance of “members-only” affairs with much of the crowd being made up of party’s own machinery.

Its coalition partners — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will give his first ceramah tonight in Merlimau — have also been sluggish in rallying behind the Islamic party.

Pahang DAP chief Leong Ngah Ngah has also been allowed to leave for Chiang Mai, Thailand instead of heading his party’s efforts in Kerdau, the clearest sign that PR are not pulling all the stops to make gains in the contest.

Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said that PR are demoralised after a recent run of by-election defeats and would rather conserve resources than expend them on seats that BN won by handsome margins in the 2008 general election.

“They already have one eye on Sarawak, and it will have a bigger impact if they can make gains there than just one or two by-elections,” he said, adding that PR was obliged to contest in the two BN strongholds.

There has been talk among PAS leaders of “choosing the right battles” but Dzulkefly today said that “if we shy away, we will come away even worse off” despite the 16 by-elections since the 2008 election already thinning out resources.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has been practically camped out in the two constituencies as Barisan Nasional (BN) election director.

Felda settlers in Kerdau have paid little heed to any of the campaigning since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrived early in the campaign to promise that funds were readily available in return for their continued support.

“Whatever we need, we get from BN,” one Felda settler told The Malaysian Insider.

PAS has not seen better luck in Merlimau either, as reformed actor Bob Lokman who recently joined the party has failed to draw in young voters to their ceramah.

Aside from PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa, Anwar is the first top PR leader to make the rounds in Melaka with neither Abdul Hadi nor spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat scheduled to speak during the campaign.

It has led Melaka PAS deputy commissioner Adly Zahari to admit that it will need to realign its strategy to focus on door-to-door visits to garner support from the voters.

BN has won four of the last five by-elections and appear to be gathering support before coalition chairman and prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak calls for early snap polls. - Malaysian Insider