‘SANDIWARA’ PAS TO STICK WITH UMNO: HADI & CO TO UNVEIL ‘SECOND OPPOSITION BLOC’ IN SEPTEMBER

PAS is officially launching Gagasan Sejahtera Rakyat, the country’s third political bloc to contest in the 14th general election, in September.

The opposition coalition is also expected to announce that it will contest more than 120 seats in Peninsular and East Malaysia, in a bid to present itself as a viable alternative to both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (Pakatan).

PAS vice-president Dr Idris Ahmad said there were no plans for an electoral pact with either BN or Pakatan, making multi-candidate contests a likelihood in the next polls.

Analysts have noted that BN usually wins when the opposition fields more than one candidate in a fight due to split votes.

Besides the Islamist party, the bloc is expected to comprise Parti Cinta Malaysia, Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia, and Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia.

The Islamist-centred coalition is anticipating the support of about 200 Muslim groups, said Idris, who is the Bukit Gantang MP.

“We will also announce some of the main points of our manifesto. We don’t want to reveal everything yet as we are afraid the ideas will be copied by Umno,” Idris told The Malaysian Insight.

Idris said the launch would take place in the second half of September in Kuala Terengganu.

The idea for Gagasan was announced in May, at the PAS annual assembly in Alor Star. New leadership under president Abdul Hadi Awang had outlined the party direction after the break-up with allies PKR and DAP under the Pakatan Rakyat banner.

PAS had been in an alliance with PKR since 1998 but decided to formally cut ties in May. It, however, still maintains three representatives in the PKR-led Selangor government.

Hadi had announced that Gagasan wished to offer voters “politik matang dan sejahtera”, or politics that was “mature and harmonious”.

PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan had said that Gagasan aimed to contest 100 parliamentary seats in GE14 and to take over the governments of Terengganu, Kedah, Perak and Selangor.

Idris confirmed this but added that the real target was to win enough seats to gain a simple majority in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat.

“We want to be able to form the federal government on our own,” said Idris.

The plan will see Gagasan parties contest seats held either by BN or Pakatan.

Ruling BN holds 132 seats in the Dewan Rakyat. Pakatan, which comprises PKR, DAP, Amanah, and Bersatu, have 71 seats. PAS has  15 parliamentary seats.

Semporna and Penampang belong to Parti Warisan Sabah, and Bandar Tun Razak MP Khalid Ibrahim and Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him, who are independents.

Idris did not discount the possibility of entering into an electoral pact with any other coalition or party but stressed that the number
one enemy was still BN.

“As much as possible we want straight fights with BN. But we are standing our ground. We will not back off from any seats that we
claim.”

– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com