PAS daydreaming about winning over fence sitters, says analyst

 

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang speaking at the party’s general assembly. He said PAS had broken through the ‘racial wall’.

PETALING JAYA: PAS is “daydreaming” if it believes it can win over fence sitters at the coming general election, says an analyst.

Council of Professors fellow Jeniri Amir said it would be very difficult for the Islamic party to win over Chinese voters as well as those in Sabah and Sarawak.

This was especially so after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang recently said that non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras were at the root of corruption in the country.

“There’s no way PAS can win more than the 18 seats it won at the last general election.

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“There will be too many multicornered fights among Malay-based parties and as long as PAS doesn’t cooperate with Umno, it can’t win more seats,” he told FMT.

Hadi had said on Sunday that PAS would attempt to woo non-Muslims and fence sitters at the general election. He said the Islamic party had broken the “racial wall” through its non-Muslim supporters’ wing.

Giving the example of DAP fielding an Indian candidate in a Chinese-majority area, he said there was no reason PAS could not gain the support of Chinese voters.

Another analyst, Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid of Universiti Sains Malaysia, said there was no concrete evidence to back Hadi’s claim that the party had bridged the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims.

He said the odds were very much against PAS to convince fence sitters.

“Perceptions of PAS have been built over several years,” he said. “Winning over fence sitters a few months before an election can never happen quickly.” - FMT