PETALING JAYA: Parit Buntar MP Mujahid Yusof Rawa has admitted that a three cornered fight for the seat is inevitable but looks forward to proving he can defend his seat without PAS on his side.
“The split to three blocks on Malay voters is a new terrain for us in the coming battle, but I am ready for such circumstances with a mind to win,” said Mujahid, who is also a vice-president of Amanah.
He said a survey carried out by his team showed his chances of retaining the seat were good.
Mujahid, who won the Parit Buntar seat under PAS in the previous two elections in 2008 and 2013, will be contesting again, but this time under Amanah, the new political party formed after some leaders and members split from PAS.
The so-called progressive faction in PAS left in the wake of their defeat in party elections in 2015.
Mujahid is one of six elected MPs who will defend seats they won when they were still in PAS.
Amanah is a component in the current opposition pact Pakatan Harapan. Formed in September 2015, the coalition also comprises PKR, DAP and PPBM.
This will be the first time Amanah will be taking part in a general election.
Mujahid said Amanah was different in the way it approached Islam in politics compared with PAS, adding his party moved within the ambit of democracy while extolling Islamic values “rather than simply riding on Islam without putting it into context”.
He told FMT he believed that democracy was currently the best system of government and that it fitted well with the Islamic political objective of creating a more open society.
In the 2013 general election, Mujahid won with a majority of 8,476 votes.
According to undi.info, out of more than 40,000 voters who came out to vote there in the last general election, 68% were Malays, 27% were Chinese, and 5% were Indian.
Mujahid admitted that the opposition split with PAS would have an impact on the Malay voters, especially since Parit Buntar was the strongest hardcore PAS bastion in Perak.
However, he said, the new block of supporters, split from Umno, in PPBM can help recover from the losses of the PAS block.
He also said based on a survey conducted by his team in Parit Buntar, PAS supporters were upset with the indecisiveness of PAS president Hadi Awang on where the party stood with regards to Umno.
“PAS voters are also split, as some are disgruntled with Hadi’s leadership and might opt for Pakatan Harapan (PH),” he said.
He said the survey conducted was based on phone calls made to those who had registered to vote in the Parit Buntar district.
He added there were also a substantial number of voters who said they would vote for the candidate and not any particular party.
“We are leading more than 60% but will expect a lower majority than 2008 and 2013,” he said, referring to the survey conducted by his Parit Buntar team. -FMT
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