Perak Harapan reps challenge Tok Mat's bravado in touting big win

Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan has talked up BN’s chances of forming a strong and stable government in Perak after the next election but Pakatan Harapan reps in the state are unconvinced.

This came after he said that Perak BN needs to win another nine state seats while retaining the 27 seats it had won in the last polls to form a strong state government in the 15th general election (GE15).

“Whilst I respect Tok Mat’s (Mohamad’s popular nickname) attempt to inspire confidence as a form of mobilising call to arms for his party’s voter base as well as potential fence sitters, it is nothing more than just that.

“At best, it is a strategic goal that BN is seeking to achieve ‐ that mentions nothing on how that can be achieved.

“Tok Mat’s pertinent comment about Perak’s prospective stable government requiring BN to win an additional nine seats is indeed applicable for both BN and Harapan.

“What is interesting, however, is that it is not applicable to PN,” said Howard Lee (above), who is state assemblyperson for Pasir Pinji.

Umno’s uphill battle

He told Malaysiakini that Mohamad’s comments reveal that BN lacks confidence in achieving an outright majority themselves. 

“Instead of declaring the need to find a ‘tonic’ to win nine seats more for a stable government, it should be a declaration of the number of seats that BN will win to form a stable BN government.

“The more pertinent question that Tok Mat needs to address, both for his party’s base as well as the general electorate is that in case BN does not gain the nine seats, will Umno and BN go grovelling back to a potentially stronger PAS and what remains of Bersatu to form a government in Perak?” said Lee.

He said Umno is facing credible and aggressive contests by PAS in two or three of their incumbent seats and that the seats that Umno lost to Bersatu are also proving to be a challenge.

“This translates into an uphill battle to even preserve their current 25,” Lee added.

Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan

Mohamad had said the nine seats were divided into tier one and tier two, with tier one involving five seats that BN lost with a majority of fewer than 1,000 votes.

As for the parliamentary seats, he said, Perak BN also needs to add five more seats to the existing 11 seats.

In GE14, BN won in 27 out of the 59 state constituencies, losing the state to Harapan, although it subsequently formed the government due to defections. 

Tangung Malim MP Chang Lih Kang said that it is merely BN’s wishful thinking to win more seats in the coming GE.

“BN has been the state government since 2020, though they did not get the ruling mandate in the last GE. However, there was not much difference from the previous BN government which was overthrown by the people,” he said. 

“Now, people find it harder to put food on the table because of the skyrocketing inflation; and yet we witness how government funds were misused by BN leaders such as the LCS (littoral combat ships) scandal.

“Hence, I think BN should worry about losing the state instead of aiming to win more seats,” he added.

“Perakians deserve a better state government and Harapan will strive to stop BN from helming the state again after they have failed to elevate the living standards of the people,” said Chang, who is also PKR vice-president. - Mkini