PAS capable of helping PN win Perak, Pahang, says analyst

 

PAS has significantly increased its presence in the Perak and Pahang state legislative assembllies in last year’s general election. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: PAS is capable of taking control of the Perak and Pahang legislative assemblies at the next elections as there is growing support from Malay voters, says an analyst.

Chin Yee Mun, who heads the Tan Cheng Lock Centre for Social and Policy Studies at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), said the results of the 15th general election (GE15) last November showed the party gaining ground on Barisan Nasional (BN).

“The seats won by BN in Malay-majority areas (in GE15) dropped compared with previous elections. Perikatan Nasional (PN) managed to make inroads, and this success was largely due to PAS supporters,” he told FMT.

PAS won just three state seats in Perak in the 14th general election (GE14) but managed to secure 17 seats in GE15, when the state polls was run concurrently.

In Pahang, the party added seven seats to their GE14 tally of eight, for a total of 15 seats.

With Bersatu winning nine and two seats in Perak and Pahang, respectively, PN now holds a total of 26 seats in the 59-seat Perak state assembly and 17 in the 42-seat Pahang state assembly.

During the recent PAS muktamar, election director Sanusi Nor said the party was aiming to take over the two states from BN in the next general election (GE16).

Chin said the racial make up of the states made a near-term victory possible, adding that any support gained from non-Malay voters would only strengthen their position.

“They can do things the ‘hard way’ (without non-Malay’s support), but this will mean polarising voters and this is not healthy, even if they win,” he said.

He said PAS still needed to prove it had the potential to credibly manage the economy in order to convince “fence sitters” such as disillusioned Umno supporters.

“Their ‘state government 4’ (SG4) concept is still in its infancy and may not be able to produce any convincing results soon,” he added, referring to the four states with a PAS-led government – Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu.

“However, these four states need to generate policies that are capable of attracting both capital and talent to build a strong economy.”

Awang Azman Pawi from Universiti Malaya (UM) agreed that PAS had been making good progress in the states but did not expect their ambitions to be met in the short-term.

He said that was because PAS had treated non-Malays as “punching bags” during past campaigns, it would be challenging to now try and win them back.

“It will be difficult for PAS to capture the non-Malay vote unless it changes its attitude and principles,” he added. - FMT