KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 – Miscalculation by PAS in the 13th general election saw four of the party’s top guns lose in the contests for the Pendang, Arau, Putrajaya and Pulai parliamentary seats.
Although PAS managed to remain in power in Kelantan, the defeat of these leaders will have an impact on PAS’ position in the opposition pact.
Political observers opine that the move to field PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu or Mat Sabu in the Malay-majority area of Pendang, Kedah was a miscalculation, considering the increasing Malay support for the Barisan Nasional (BN).
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s Faculty of Social Science lecturer, Dr Faisal S.Hazis said BN’s decision to name the former prime minister’s son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir as the prospective Kedah menteri besar also had a positive impact on Malay support for BN.
He said the failure of the PAS-led Kedah government under the leadership of Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak to address problems like the temple issue, logging in the Pedu area and handling of Kolej Universiti Insaniah (Kuin) had driven many Malays to vote for BN.
“The move by BN to name Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir for the menteri besar post and the solidarity within Umno compared to their fractious situation in 2008 also helped to draw Malay support for BN,” he said when contacted today.
Besides Mohamad, the other PAS big guns who lost in the GE13 were the party’s deputy spiritual leader Datuk Dr Haron Din in the Arau parliamentary constituency in Perlis and two vice-presidents, Datuk Husam Musa in Putrajaya and Salahuddin Ayub in Pulai, Johor by more than 2,000 votes each.
PAS’ stance over the “kalimah Allah” issue and quarrel with its allies, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP, over its proposed implementation of hudud is also seen as contributing to PAS’ loss of some seats to BN.
Assoc Prof Dr Samsul Adabi Mamat of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said the rejection of its four top leaders also showed that the people had gotten fed-up of PAS flip-flopping over issues. He said PAS which was already mired in controversies, faced difficulty in getting the cooperation of DAP, which was strongly against the implementation of hudud that PAS was championing.
“Besides that, the influence of the ‘Anwarinas’ within PAS has also damaged PAS’ image and put off people,” he added.
He also did not dismiss the possibility of the sacking of former Selangor PAS commissioner Datuk Hasan Ali from the party and former deputy president Datuk Nasharuddin Mat Isa from the party’s Ulama Syura Council as having an impact on the outcome for PAS in the GE13.
This time, PAS won 21 parliamentary seats compared to 23 in 2008 and it also lost Kedah to BN and five parliamenary seats out of the 37 it contested in the GE13. However, it won 85 state seats in Terengganu, Johor, Melaka and Selangor compared to 83 in 2008.
BERNAMA
