PAS banking on ‘Brand Nizar’ to retake Perak

The former menteri besar says Pakatan also has a back-up plan if Umno turns the Perak Sultan against him.

PETALING JAYA: For the past two years Nizar Jamaluddin has been known as the former menteri besar of Perak.

But with a stealthily approaching general election, he has been repackaged as a personal brand, one that PAS is banking on to win back the state from Barisan Nasional.

PKR and DAP have already openly agreed that should Pakatan Rakyat reign once more in Perak and if Nizar wins both his Bukit Gantang parliamentary and Pasir Panjang state seats, he would be reinstated as the state’s menteri besar

In a recent interview with FMT, the soft-spoken statesman explained that the “Nizar brand” was not so much self-promotion as it was an extinguishing of Umno’s allegation that a Malay from DAP would be elected as menteri besar if Pakatan took over Perak.

According to Nizar, Umno was spooking Perakians with talk that since DAP won more seats in the previous general election, PAS would be forced to relinquish the menteri besar’s position to it.

“But DAP is smart and (DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng announced that it would not field a Malay candidate in any of its seats,” Nizar said.

“This is at the expense of DAP because people will then still perceive it as a Chinese-based party, which it is not. But it is willing to make this sacrifice because the repercussions of fielding a Malay candidate would be worse,” he added.

Nizar himself was taking a risk in speaking favourably of DAP. In the months following the coup d’etat of February 2009, he was accused by Umno of being a DAP puppet and a traitor to the Perak sultan for refusing the royal order to vacate the post.

The backlash was swift from the Malay rural areas and Pakatan’s popularity there dropped to 10% from 40%. But by February 2010, Pakatan leaders claimed to have arrested the sliding support as well as the accusations.

A survey by Merdeka Centre that same year also showed that Nizar had a 46% approval rating compared to Perak Menteri Besar, Zambry Abdul Kadir, at 43%.

While it appeared that Perak was ready to welcome Nizar back as its menteri besar, the man himself said that there would be one last bridge to cross.

“We must also respect that it is the right of the sultan to approve of this appointment. If the sultan refuses to accept me, then it is his right. So we cannot be too confident in saying that it will definitely be me.

“I’m concerned that the sultan may be influenced by Umno elements to reject my appointment because I’m a DAP cohort. So we have alternative candidates within PAS and PKR,” he added.

A ‘shocking’ Plan B

Nizar emphasised that alternative candidates were crucial to prevent any crisis of the constitution but requested that their identities remain undisclosed for now.

He added that while he would be contesting in both his seats, the final decision depended on the PAS central working committee and the level of risk attached to those seats.

“If PAS decides to only allow one candidate per seat, then I will have to choose but I haven’t given the decision proper thought at this point,” Nizar said.

He pointed out that Bukit Gantang and Pasir Panjang were historically never hot seats until he won them and that Umno was pouring a significant amount of effort in its campaigns there.

If either seat proved to be too high a risk closer to the general election, then PAS was expected to execute Plan B which Nizar promised would be a “shocker” as it would be a plan that “no one would have anticipated”.

Right now, his plate is full with guiding and grooming a younger battalion of candidates from DAP and PKR ahead of the polls.

“Young candidates are not so visible in PAS because many whom we want to recruit are serving government bonds or paying off government loans,” Nizar explained.

“So we aren’t able to bring them in yet. Another reason that still keeps them from PAS is parental advice to stick to what they know, which is Umno. But this influence is slowly diminishing and a great majority of students are now our supporters,” he said.

Change in nuances

Despite the uncertainty over his reinstatement as Perak menteri besar, Nizar nonetheless mapped out the simple steps he would take if it comes to pass.

The first would be to retain all PAS policies carried out over the last year that had proven beneficial to the people.

“Several of these policies have been withdrawn or abolished by Zambry,” he said. “For instance, the issuance of land titles to all Perakians, irrespective of race, who do not own land.”

Nizar also promised to implement policies enjoyed by other Pakatan states as well as review Zambry’s budget and propose another version if necessary.

“Lastly, we want the people to know that no race will be sidelined or marginalised,” he stated. “Our past mistake was to introduce good policies without executing them in a way that showed clear results especially to the Malays.”

“For instance, we said that we will give RM200 in student aid to every household earning below RM1,000 and made a general statement that it will benefit 70% of Perakians.

“Now we are saying that it will benefit 85% of Malays. These small shifts in nuances are especially important after Umno implanted in the minds of the Malays that I am a DAP puppet,” he added.