GE13: Selangor at risk

GE13: Selangor at risk, says PAS Deputy President, Mohamad Sabu

by Hazlan Zakaria@www.malaysiakini.com

Newly-elected PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu fears that victory in Selangor may not be a certainty should a snap election be called in the near term.“We have brought prosperity to the state, high wages for teachers and more, but if the general election is called, will Pakatan continue to rule Selangor? It is not yet certain,” Mohamad said to stunned silence from delegates.

The deputy president was tabling the party’s central committee motion to galvanise the party in support of the upcoming Bersih 2.0 gathering for electoral reforms.

Mohamad warned that UMNO would be up to its devious tricks come elections, such as slipping BN-friendly voters into the electoral roll of Pakatan strongholds and issuing identity cards to permanent residents so they could vote for BN.

Therefore he moved for the muktamar to endorse the Bersih rally scheduled for July 9, urging the party machinery and allied NGOs to help out and participate to force the government to make elections fairer, cleaner and more transparent.

‘Replace UMNO in rakyat’s minds’

Party vice president Mahfuz Omar meanwhile in his speech outlined one strategy that the party could use to ensure its win, if a snap poll is called.

“We must displace UMNO in the rakyat’s hearts and minds, because we need their mandate to win Putrajaya; our political power alone is not enough,” said Mahfuz borrowing the words of Gerald Templer.

The former British Commissioner to Malaya had spoken similarly when outlining his strategy to win over the people from the clutches of the communists in the 1950s.

Mahfuz said he believed this was necessary Umno is well entrenched in the rakyat’s psyche, in particular the Malays, as the saviour of their race. However, he noted that PAS could never hope to match the gargantuan resources available to the BN government. “We cannot fight them with projects; I am sure they can give more projects than we can ever hope to match,” he lamented.

Mahfuz said PAS had a secret weapon, the party’s spiritual values. “We can fight them with our morality, spirituality and values, which are the major distinction between PAS and UMNO.”

The Pokok Sena MP said they could win over the rakyat by helping alleviate their burdens, such as through initiatives like the anti-saman ekor campaign to tackle the procedurally irregular fines. He said they could win over the people to Pakatan’s cause through their sincere efforts.

‘KPIs for next GE’

In a serious offensive for the next general election, the party is strengthening its party election machinery through the implementation of KPIs at state and division levels.

“We must have 50 percent voter registration in all state and parliamentary districts,” said Party election committee head Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman, calling on all state and district chiefs to be pro-active.

In addition he urged youth members at all levels to go to ground to get youths and other unregistered voters to register.

“PAS will get a better chance if we register more voters,” Abdul Halim said. Going beyond, he urged all districts to ensure that PAS has a branch in every postal district or in its absence, have an ad hoc committee set up for each.

The strategy he said would improve the party machinery and improve PAS’ presence in all electoral districts, a glaring weaknesses that has plagued the party in some areas.

Taking his turn addressing the delegates, PAS secretary general Mustafa Ali (above left) talked about the stringent standards necessary for the party’s election candidates to ensure that they are not only “suitable” but also “winnable”.

For this, he said, the candidate must first be endorsed by the Shura after stringent moral checks from the party’s highest decision makers, before being sent to the various divisions for approvals to ensure that the grassroots will accept them.