Without DAP, Rafiq confident Bersatu can do better in Malacca election

 

MALACCA POLLS | Malacca Perikatan Nasional chief Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen today expressed his confidence that Bersatu can score many seats in the state election, given that it no longer works with DAP.

According to the Telok Mas candidate, it was hard for Bersatu to get solid support from the Malays in Malacca when it was in Pakatan Harapan, as the community was said to be reluctant to vote for parties linked to DAP.

“Back then, Bersatu was in a position where we contested as an opposition, so there was no track record to show our service to the rakyat.

“And we were also working together with DAP, and it is known that when a bumiputera-based party cooperates with DAP, it is hard for the party to get solid support from the Malays on a large scale,” Rafiq (above) told reporters in Alai, Telok Mas, earlier today.

Rafiq was responding to a reporter’s request for his take on PN’s chance to win the state election, which is seeing three major political coalitions contesting all 28 State Legislative Assembly seats.

In the 2018 general election, Bersatu, then part of Pakatan Harapan, only won two state seats out of six that it contested. These seats are Telok Mas and Paya Rumput.

PAS, which went into the 2018 election on its own, did not win any of the seats it contested.

However, for the ongoing state election, PAS has decided to go in under the PN banner, working together with Bersatu and Gerakan.

Rafiq also expressed his confidence that Bersatu’s alliance with PAS would help PN score many seats, which he hoped would be enough for them to form a state government with a simple majority.

He said the cooperation with PAS also makes PN a more appealing option compared to BN and Harapan, as PN is offering two parties that are Malay and Islam-centric.

“This is the first time in history that, should the people of Malacca and also Malaysia want to choose other than BN, they no longer have to go to Harapan, where DAP is dominant.

“It has become a reality, for the first time, there are three political coalitions contesting, and two of them are controlled by parties that are Malay and Islam-centric.

“One is BN, which has Umno as the only Malay-based party, and on the other hand, there is PN which offers two Malay and Islam parties,” Rafiq added. - Mkini