PETALING JAYA: A political analyst believes that PAS’s lacklustre showing in campaigning for Perikatan Nasional in Kuala Kubu Baharu may have been down to disappointment at not getting to contest the by-election.
Akademi Nusantara’s Azmi Hassan said PAS may have wanted to contest the by-election for the state seat located within the Hulu Selangor parliamentary constituency, which is also represented by the Islamic party.
PAS also holds the Hulu Bernam state seat which is also in Hulu Selangor.
Azmi told FMT that PN’s decision to field Hulu Selangor Bersatu chief Khairul Azhari Saut may have caused PAS leaders and members to hit the campaign trail minimally.
“If you look at PAS’s election machinery, it’s the most efficient in PN compared with that of Bersatu and Gerakan. But they did not go down to help the Bersatu candidate this time around,” he said.
In its forecast of the by-election, think tank Ilham Centre had said that PAS was noticeably more muted in campaigning for Khairul and not fully mobilising its members despite being the backbone of PN’s machinery.
It said Selangor PAS did not seem very aggressive while machinery from other state chapters were nowhere to be found in Kuala Kubu Baharu.
This was denied by PAS vice-president Amar Abdullah, who said the party merely adopted a different campaign strategy by going door-to-door instead of speaking at ceramahs.
Meanwhile, Bilcher Bala of Universiti Malaysia Sabah said PAS would have stood a better chance of winning more votes than Bersatu if it contested the seat instead, though it may not have won.
However, he believed that PAS expected Pakatan Harapan to defend the seat, where 30% of the voters are Chinese, and that campaigning would be a waste of time and resources.
“The PN and Parti Rakyat Malaysia candidates merely reduced PH’s majority. PAS understands this situation, and that it’s a waste of money and time,” he said. - FMT
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