Kit Siang: PH will win Perak with voter swings in GE14

DAP supremo says this is possible with PAS playing the ‘spoiler’s role’, and expected swings in Malay and non-Malay support by 10% and 5% respectively.

PETALING JAYA: DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is confident that Pakatan Harapan (PH) can wrest the Perak state government from Barisan Nasional (BN) in the event of a three-cornered battle with PAS for the state assembly seats in the 14th general election (GE14).

The Gelang Patah MP said with PAS playing the “spoiler’s role”, and an expected swing in Malay support towards PH by 10% with another 5% increase in non-Malay votes from BN, a likely outcome will be PH winning 39 seats, BN obtaining 20 and PAS none.

“Perak would then be one of the state governments which will fall to Pakatan Harapan in the next general election,” the DAP parliamentary leader said.

Lim said it would not be an easy task to bring about such swings from what BN achieved in the last general election in May 2013 when it successfully retained the state.

“But all patriotic Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even politics, must unite to ‘Save Malaysia’ from becoming a failed and rogue state for the sake of our children and children’s children,” he said in a statement issued today following his speech at a PH rally in Parit Buntar, Perak, last night.

He said the poll results in 2013 had seen an “electoral injustice” where parties from the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition, the precursor to PH, won 55% of the popular vote for the Perak assembly.

Despite this, BN continued to form the state government as it won 31 assembly seats against the 28 won by PR parties DAP, PKR and PAS, he added.

He also said PR was defeated in four seats by less than 303 votes – Lubuk Merbau where it lost by 53 votes, Manjoi by 132 votes, Manong by 231 votes and Pasir Panjang by 302 votes.

Lim said an opposition victory was possible in the upcoming election as the political situation in the country had undergone a “sea-change” with the four PH parties of DAP, PKR, Amanah and PPBM “getting their acts together” after the announcement of a new coalition structure, logo and leadership line-up on July 14.

“Recent police warnings that the Islamic State (IS) is planning to launch an attack in Perak during the upcoming Merdeka celebrations, and recent declarations by international Islamic scholars and academicians that Malaysia is no more a moderate nation are disturbing developments which bode ill for the future unless these signals are taken seriously by all patriotic Malaysians,” he added.

PR parties had won Perak in the general election of March 2008. However, the state was taken over by BN in Feb 2009 after three PR representatives defected to become BN-friendly independents, thereby allowing BN to claim majority in the state assembly.

Lim also reiterated that it was possible for PH to win 113 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia with the help of a “Malaysian tsunami” against the BN’s 60-year federal rule.

“In such a scenario, Barisan Nasional will win 50 parliamentary seats and PAS two seats in Peninsular Malaysia, setting the stage for the formation of a Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya with Sabahans and Sarawakians,” he said.

He said the tsunami could take place if 10% of Malays and 5% of non-Malays switched their support from the BN to PH, while voters made a clear distinction between supporting PH and rejecting PAS.

He claimed this was because the PAS leadership under president Hadi Awang had become the “greatest apologist and defender” of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s “kleptocratic” regime.

He added that PR had gained 53% of the popular vote in the 2013 election but BN won 60% of the parliamentary seats to maintain its hold over Putrajaya. -FMT