PAS has learnt not to alienate certain voters in GE15, says veep

PAS MUKTAMAR | PAS’ previous general election losses have taught the party to avoid alienating certain voter segments in its campaigns, said its newly elected vice-president Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

Despite Umno and PAS being two of the largest Malay-Muslim parties, and the possibility of contesting the 15th general election together, Samsuri insisted that PAS still views engagement with non-Malay voters as well as voters in Sabah and Sarawak as a key point which must be addressed.

"To take over Putrajaya will require support from various segments of voters - from different races, different age groups, different levels of education.

"We have learned in past elections what would happen if a certain segment of voters did not have a proper understanding about us, and we will take it as a key point for GE15," said the Terengganu menteri besar during a press conference today at the 65th PAS convention in Sukpa Indoor Stadium, Kuantan.

Asked whether Terengganu would be a key state to pioneer a PAS-Umno cooperation, Samsuri said he believes each state has a role to play in order to achieve the goal of launching a straight fight against Harapan in GE15.

He said each of the three party vice-presidents had also been assigned territories beyond their own home states to continue the engagement process.

When asked for comments on a PAS Youth delegate's call for the party to lead any new alliances, Samsuri said the expression of such opinions was normal and would contribute to the leaders’ final decisions on an issue.

Beyond addressing differences within its own ranks, Samsuri said a bigger problem would be to deal with Harapan's purported intentions to break ties between PAS and Umno.

He claimed that Harapan aimed to ensure PAS and Umno did not have good relations, in order to prevent a straight fight in the next general election.

"Our challenge in GE15, of course, is to ensure one-to-one (contests against Harapan) and Harapan will try their best to break the relations," he said.

In his policy speech yesterday, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had urged the party machinery to make early preparations for GE15, which included focusing on engaging externally with its target group of supporters. - Mkini