'Is Najib's RM2.6b donation a divine blessing, too?'

MP SPEAKS This must be the first time that the Umno president has beaten the PAS president in claiming divine intervention for an electoral victory.

On Saturday night, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said he had turned to God for answers if he was on the right path or whether he had really strayed, and BN's “thumping victories in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections was God’s answer to his prayers”.

Najib said: "I don't reply with harsh words. I only want to work. I prayed to Allah, if I am right, then show it. God gave us victory beyond our expectations."

It will not be long before there will be claims that Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.5 billion “donation” twin global scandals have received God’s blessings as well.

In the two by-elections, the student has outshone the teacher, as the “adviser” took two full days to recover from PAS’ stinging defeats in the two by-elections and to urge PAS supporters not to despair as it is in Allah’s powers to dictate victory for all who uphold Islam.

If the PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang is right, it must be Allah’s will that the 65-year-old PAS is defeated by nine-month-old Parti Amanah Negara and crushed in the Sungai Besar by-election, securing one percent of Chinese votes when it received 75 percent Chinese voter support in 2013 general election.

The PAS president had warned voters about incurring God’s wrath should they vote for the wrong candidate in the two by-elections.

PAS polled 6,902 votes in Sungai Besar or 22 percent of the total votes cast and 5,684 votes in Kuala Kangsar or 24 percent of the total votes cast, and it is indeed most sad and shocking that the PAS president regard over three quarters of the voters of Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar as the “damned” and “accursed” because they did not vote for the PAS candidate.

The two by-election results have sparked renewed discussions as to how to avert three-cornered fights in the 14th general election which may be held next year, and may be it is opportune time to revisit a proposal for PAS to concentrate in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis while Amanah focus on all the other states, subject to adjustments to the arrangement by two political parties.

In the 14 general election, Kelantan PAS faces the prospect of losing power in the state which it had governed since 1990, 23 years under Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat as mentri besar.

I have predicted during the by-election campaign that PAS would lose by 10,000 votes in Sungai Besar and 5,000 votes in Kuala Kangsar, and the results have not only proved me right but I was too conservative.

PAS polled 18,296 votes in Sungai Besar and 13,136 votes in Kuala Kangsar in 2013 general election but only 6,902 votes in Sungai Besar and 5,684 votes in Kuala Kangsar by-elections - or a loss of 11,394 votes in Sungai Besar and 7,452 votes in Kuala Kangsar.

Although the PAS candidate lost by a wafer-thin majority of 399 votes in Sungai Besar and a slim majority of 1,082 votes in Kuala Kangsar in GE13 in 2013, these votes were won in the name of Pakatan Rakyat and not just PAS.

I had contended that a more correct reflection of PAS support were the results of the 2004 general election, where the “stand-alone” PAS candidate secured 7,988 votes in Sungai Besar and 5,748 votes in Kuala Kangsar.

In the event, PAS was not even able to achieve what it polled in 2004 in both constituencies, polling only 6,902 votes in the Sungai Besar by-election as compared to 7,988 in the 2004 general election; and 5,684 votes in the Kuala Kangsar by-election as compared to 5,748 in 2004 general election.

Going by the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-election results, PAS will be completely wiped out in Selangor and Perak, reduced from the 15 state Assembly seats won in Selangor and the five seats in Perak in the 13 general election to zero in both Selangor and Perak as in the 2004 general election.

It is really pathetic that all that the party’s top election strategist can show after the party’s 65 years of political struggle is the party’s role as a “spoiler” in Malaysian electoral politics.

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LIM KIT SIANG is MP for Gelang Patah and the DAP parliamentary leader.- Mkini