Incumbent Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar (above) today dealt a sarcastic blow to his former party PAS saying it should be entered into the Malaysian Book of Records for contesting the most number of seats in a general election.
"As far as we know, no party has contested more than 150 seats in any national polls," Mahfuz said in a statement issued in Kedah.
"Even Umno, the biggest party in Malaysia in terms of membership and branches and with the most MPs in Parliament only contested in 121 seats in the last general election," he added.
"So PAS wants to qualify to be in the Malaysian Book of Records," Mahfuz quipped sarcastically.
In Perak yesterday, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said the party's coalition, Gagasan Sejahtera, will contest 160 seats for GE14.
Hadi said PAS, which contested 73 out of the 222 parliamentary seats in the 2013 general election, would be contesting more seats this time around.
A day before, however, PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said Gagasan will contest more than 150 parliamentary seats and a majority of the 587 state seats excluding those in Sarawak.
"I do not know if this is confirmed as the PAS president is always changing his tune and targets especially from the aspect of seats that the party plans to contest," Mahfuz said today.
He recalled that not long ago, PAS leaders said the party would contest 80 seats as it did in the past.
"Later the figure went up to 100, 120 and 130 and then several days ago, Takiyuddin said the party would field candidates in 150 seats while Hadi (below) said they will contest in 160.
"Such inconsistencies show how chaotic it is in PAS these days," noted Mahfuz.
He questioned if PAS is merely playing a trick to cover their real intention of becoming a "kingmaker or determinator" of the elections.
No financial capability
"While PAS grassroots members may be applauding the party for being able to contest many seats, they must question how it will finance the elections especially when money continues to be collected from members in the name of jihad," Mahfuz said.
"If PAS truly plans to contest in 160 parliament seats, the deposit (RM15,000 each) for candidates alone and the cost of campaign materials will amount to around RM2.4 million," he said.
"The total needed then for 160 seats would amount to about RM34.4 million as RM200,000 is the limit set by the Election Commission for each seat," Mahfuz said.
He said to his knowledge, PAS never had such a financial capability.
Mahfuz said he cannot dismiss the perception that the "real hidden game" is for PAS to contest as many seats as possible to split votes against Pakatan Harapan so that Umno can win comfortably.
"Therefore, it is unfortunate for some Malaysians to still relish the hope that PAS will enter the election race to topple BN.
"They fail to see that PAS' real political game and intention is to retain Najib's kleptocratic government," said the veteran politician.
"If Malaysians truly want change and a better future, there is no choice but to vote for any party under Pakatan Harapan in this coming GE,” he advised. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.