PAS to contest in Labuan

Pakatan Rakyat's decision to allow PAS to field a candidate in Labuan in the 13th general election may well backfire

LABUAN: Pakatan Rakyat has decided to go with a PAS candidate for Labuan in the 13th general election.

PAS Federal Territories Commissioner Mohamad Noor Mohamad said this was decided during the coalition’s meeting on Aug 18.

He said the seat distribution for the Federal Territories was agreed to by the opposition leaders from PAS, PKR and DAP.

“The agreement was made on Aug 18 and an agreement letter had been issued regarding the seat distribution.

“So it is clear that PAS will stand here in Labuan. PAS will also contest in Putrajaya and in Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur,” he said during the meeting of Pakatan Rakyat leaders here.

The decision to allow PAS to contest in Labuan is unlikely to go down well with voters, according to Anything But Umno (ABU) movement activist Harris Ibrahim.

Haris opined that PAS had a poor polls performance record in Labuan. In June he told FMT that “they (PAS) always ended up (being) the biggest losers”.

In the 2004 general election, PAS’ Matusin Abdul Rahman garnered 3,186 votes against Umno’s Suhaili Abdul Rahman 11,087 votes.

In the 2008 polls, Matusin lost his deposit with only 1,106 votes against Yusof Mahal who garnered 10,471 votes and independent Lau Seng Kiat who came second with 2,014 votes.

“I’m told by the locals, including some of the Muslims, that the lifestyle of the majority in Labuan simply does not favour a PAS candidate.

“Notice how in Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur in the 12th GE, of the 11 parliamentary seats there, PAS only contested and won only one seat, that is, Titiwangsa.

“The locals I spoke to in Labuan feel that given local sentiment, a non-PAS Malay candidate has a better chance of displacing Umno-BN in the next elections,” he wrote in his blog People’s Parliament in March.

Strong manifesto

But Labuan PAS president Amir Zahari, however, feels differently. According to him support for BN in Labuan had dropped from 2008.

“Since 2008, BN support in seven places, for example in Ganggarak, Victoria Utara, Ramsay and Kerupang have dropped. We are cashing in on this.

“Our manifesto for Labuan is focussed on the welfare of locals. We want to ensure that  60% of the locals are involved in the oil and gas industry like in Sarawak and Melaka.

“Our survey shows that currently not even 20% of locals are involved in this high-revenue generating industry. The locals are not benefitting much from it.

“We want to focus on investing the oil and gas revenue for the people’s welfare, including in the economy, social, assistance for education and relief, and to develop infrastructure and facilities for the people here.

“The oil and gas revenue also will be used to upgrade our hospital facilities, while providing far more quality service if the people give us the mandate here,” he said, adding that PAS is also calling for a review of the decision to build a bridge linking Labuan to mainland Sabah at Menumbok.

“We want the decision rescinded,” said Amir.