In view of the prevailing strong anti-establishment sentiment among Chinese voters, PAS is now appealing to the Malay electorate for support to ensure the community's continued dominance of the nation's politics.
This would help Pakatan Rakyat form a stable and balanced administration with Malay representatives being in the majority should the coalition come into power.
Newly elected PAS vice-president Husam Musa said this at a political forum in Kuala Lumpur last night after presenting his analysis of the result of the recent Sarawak state election.
According to him, Sarawak Chinese voter support for the opposition had risen by 15.8 percent to 75.4, while the indigenous support went up by 6.3 percent, but that of the Malays dipped by 4.6 percent.
Extrapolating this to Sabah, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Perak, Selangor and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur, Husam estimated that Pakatan could bag another 27 parliamentary seats.
"This will increase our seats in Parliament to 109, just five seats short of forming a new federal government," said the Kelantan state exco member.
He explained that the Malay voters, after years of indoctrination by the mainstream media, are worried that they would lose political dominance should there be a change of power.
If the current trend continues in the next general election, Pakatan would be trapped in an imbalanced parliamentary line-up with more Chinese representatives while most the community's parliamentarians under Umno's control.
Tapping into tides of change
"Therefore PAS' mission is very important, that is to deliver Malay seats so that our politics will be more stable and balanced, and also to ensure that the new government will be a balanced government.
"My advice to the Malays is that Malaysian politics will change even though they don't change. BN will not be able to form a strong government in view of the current trend.
"Therefore, the Malays should support PAS. If PAS manages to capture 60 seats to replace Umno, then we would have a stable government," he said.
However, Husam conceded there is a lack of a platform and media access for the Islamic party to push this notion to the Malay electorate.
Husam had been invited by the Civil Rights Committee of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall to share his views with some 70 members of public on the topic "challenges to transformation of political parties".
Other speakers were bilingual columnist Lee Ban Chen and executive director of PKR-linked think-tank Political Studies for Change (KPRU) Ong Ooi Heng.
Asked by a member of the audience whether PAS could reclaim Terengganu in the coming polls, Husam projected confidence.
"The Pakatan ceramah recently held in Terengganu had received extraordinary response.
Aware of non-Malay apprehensions
"When we changed the state commissioner with someone who had no political burden with involvement in the previous (PAS state) government, we saw political change," he said.
His assessment is that the issue of price hikes has intensified the anti-government sentiment of Malays nationwide which could be translated into votes for the opposition.
However, Husam conceded that non-Malays still have reservations about PAS although many had favoured the party in the last election.
One of the reasons, he noted, is the lack of a platform for PAS to prove its ability to govern a multi-racial society.
"This is why Umno wanted to topple the Pakatan Perak state government because they were afraid of (former Pakatan mentri besar) Nizar Jamaluddin's administration.
"Perak reflects the demography of Malaysia. So Umno had to cut this opportunity for PAS (to showcase its governance in a multi-racial state).
"Now you see Nizar has no platform to perform in Parliament. He is just an ordinary MP. In fact, we still have 1,000 Nizars, so give us a chance," he appealed.
This would help Pakatan Rakyat form a stable and balanced administration with Malay representatives being in the majority should the coalition come into power.
Newly elected PAS vice-president Husam Musa said this at a political forum in Kuala Lumpur last night after presenting his analysis of the result of the recent Sarawak state election.
According to him, Sarawak Chinese voter support for the opposition had risen by 15.8 percent to 75.4, while the indigenous support went up by 6.3 percent, but that of the Malays dipped by 4.6 percent.
Extrapolating this to Sabah, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Perak, Selangor and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur, Husam estimated that Pakatan could bag another 27 parliamentary seats."This will increase our seats in Parliament to 109, just five seats short of forming a new federal government," said the Kelantan state exco member.
He explained that the Malay voters, after years of indoctrination by the mainstream media, are worried that they would lose political dominance should there be a change of power.
If the current trend continues in the next general election, Pakatan would be trapped in an imbalanced parliamentary line-up with more Chinese representatives while most the community's parliamentarians under Umno's control.
Tapping into tides of change
"Therefore PAS' mission is very important, that is to deliver Malay seats so that our politics will be more stable and balanced, and also to ensure that the new government will be a balanced government.
"My advice to the Malays is that Malaysian politics will change even though they don't change. BN will not be able to form a strong government in view of the current trend.
"Therefore, the Malays should support PAS. If PAS manages to capture 60 seats to replace Umno, then we would have a stable government," he said.However, Husam conceded there is a lack of a platform and media access for the Islamic party to push this notion to the Malay electorate.
Husam had been invited by the Civil Rights Committee of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall to share his views with some 70 members of public on the topic "challenges to transformation of political parties".
Other speakers were bilingual columnist Lee Ban Chen and executive director of PKR-linked think-tank Political Studies for Change (KPRU) Ong Ooi Heng.
Asked by a member of the audience whether PAS could reclaim Terengganu in the coming polls, Husam projected confidence.
"The Pakatan ceramah recently held in Terengganu had received extraordinary response.
Aware of non-Malay apprehensions
"When we changed the state commissioner with someone who had no political burden with involvement in the previous (PAS state) government, we saw political change," he said.
His assessment is that the issue of price hikes has intensified the anti-government sentiment of Malays nationwide which could be translated into votes for the opposition.
However, Husam conceded that non-Malays still have reservations about PAS although many had favoured the party in the last election.
One of the reasons, he noted, is the lack of a platform for PAS to prove its ability to govern a multi-racial society.
"This is why Umno wanted to topple the Pakatan Perak state government because they were afraid of (former Pakatan mentri besar) Nizar Jamaluddin's administration.
"Perak reflects the demography of Malaysia. So Umno had to cut this opportunity for PAS (to showcase its governance in a multi-racial state).
"Now you see Nizar has no platform to perform in Parliament. He is just an ordinary MP. In fact, we still have 1,000 Nizars, so give us a chance," he appealed.
- Malaysiakini
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