‘PAS will lose deposits in challenging Nurul Izzah, Tian Chua’

Federal Territory PKR Youth delegate says PAS will be heavily defeated in FT like it did in the general election of 1986.

SHAH ALAM: PKR Youth has dismissed PAS’ intention to run in nine parliamentary constituencies in the Federal Territory (FT), including Lembah Pantai and Batu held by PKR, as an “act of futility” that will leave the Islamist party losing its deposits.

FT PKR Youth delegate Ahmad Azri Zainal Nor said PAS’ candidates will encounter crushing defeats just as their party had experienced in the general election of 1986 when it managed to win only one parliamentary seat in the country.

The Lembah Pantai and Batu seats are held by PKR vice-presidents Nurul Izzah Anwar and Tian Chua respectively since the general election of 2008.

“They even want our (PKR) seats. They want the Batu parliamentary seat. I want to tell them if they want to, they are welcome to just bring it on,” he said in his address at the 12th National PKR Youth Congress here.

“They lost deposits in 1986 and are likely to lose their deposits again in the election to come,” he said, referring to the 14th general election (GE14) which is due by the middle of next year.

On May 14, FT PAS commissioner Mohamad Noor Mohamad said the party wanted to contest the nine seats, including PKR strongholds of Lembah Pantai and Batu.

He said it also wanted to attract Muslim votes in constituencies where DAP enjoyed majority support, such as Segambut held by Lim Lip Eng.

“The decision is in line with that made by our Syura Council for the ‘tahaluf siyasi’ (political cooperation) with PKR to be terminated,” he had said.

Azri also criticised PAS’ move to blame PKR as having betrayed the cooperation between the two parties.

He said it was in fact the Islamist party that had terminated the ties when its Syura Council made the announcement on May 11, while PKR had patiently endured slanders hurled by PAS leaders against it.

“In recent times we have seen that there are some people who despise us,” he said. “They do not want to be our friends any more, and in fact accuse us by slandering and saying that we are bad, but they were the ones who ended the relationship.”

“We have been patient with them all this while. We have tried to protect the well-meant relationship that we have had with them,” he added.

There are 11 parliamentary constituencies in the FT area, in addition to one each in Putrajaya and Labuan, which are also federal territories. -FMT