PAS rule produces poor states, but do voters care?

 PAS has profited from deep historical divides and decades of intense factionalism within the Malay-Muslim community.

From Jeffri Saling

The three poorest states in Peninsular Malaysia are Kelantan, Terengganu, and Kedah.

Guess what they have in common, politically? They are PAS-led governments.

Kelantan, which has enjoyed an uninterrupted rule by PAS since 1990, has consistently recorded the lowest median and mean monthly household incomes in the country.

According to the 2024 Household Income and Expenditure Survey by the statistics department, Kelantan recorded an average monthly disposable household income of RM4,609, the lowest in the country.

In comparison, the national average stood at RM7,584 while households in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Putrajaya earned more than RM10,000 on average.

East coast states also lag behind in other areas such as social development. Kelantan has the highest rates of incest. In 2023, Bukit Aman criminal investigation department director Abd Jalil Hassan revealed that a shocking 80% of rape cases in the state involved children.

Last year, statistics by online pornographic company Pornhub revealed that internet users in Kuala Terengganu spent an average of 12 minutes and 58 seconds looking at or searching for visual pornography.

Both record disproportionately high dropout rates, particularly among Orang Asli students, with rates previously reaching up to 41% post-Year 6.

According to National Anti-Drug Agency data, the states with the highest rates of drug and substance abuse are Kelantan with 1,130 cases per 100,000 residents and Terengganu with 974 cases per 100,000 residents.

They are followed by Perlis (965 cases per 100,000 residents) and Kedah (898 cases per 100,000 residents).

Besides incest, rape, pornography, drug use, school dropouts and petty crime, PAS has also introduced backward and repressive social policies that even impact cinemas.

So the question is: why do voters, particularly Malay-Muslim voters, keep supporting it?

PAS is led by Abdul Hadi Awang, who controversially labelled Umno members as infidels (kafir) for cooperating with non-Muslims. He also falsely tried to claim that corruption is a Chinese problem.

PAS has profited from deep historical divides and decades of intense factionalism within the Malay-Muslim community.

Many have forgotten the Memali incident of 1985 when violence erupted after a confrontation in Kedah between PAS supporters and state authorities, resulting in the deaths of 18 people (four policemen and 14 villagers, including PAS leader Ibrahim Mahmud).

Extremism is still in the party’s DNA, and leaders such as Hadi’s son have defended violent and oppressive regimes such as the Taliban of Afghanistan.

Many also forget that PAS has its own history of corruption.

Who can forgot that in 2019, Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz testified to “halal” corruption, saying he wanted to come clean about an audio recording of him talking about money received from Umno?

He said his party leaders, including Hadi, told him to deny everything.

In 2016, Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown alleged that former prime minister Najib Razak paid PAS leaders RM90 million to secure their political backing ahead of the 14th general election.

Hadi filed a libel suit in London against Rewcastle-Brown, which was unexpectedly settled out of court in 2019 without any damages paid to PAS, fuelling further public speculation.

And who can forget the seizure of the luxury cars of PAS leaders in the east coast?

Interestingly, the first state government in Malaysia’s history to collapse due to state representatives being bought over was PAS in Terengganu in 1961.

The truth is, the party has been untrustworthy since the death of the great Nik Aziz Nik Mat. Hadi’s opportunism also led to the party driving out progressive leaders who left to form Amanah.

He has consistently violated the wishes of his predecessor and is leading his followers and the people of Malaysia to disaster. - FMT

Jeffri Saling is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.