KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 ― Lim Kit Siang dismissed claims today that PAS would fare well in the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections, saying instead that the Islamist party would likely face the wrath of voters in both seats for causing Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) breakup last year.
The DAP veteran claimed the party only did as well as it did in the two seats in Election 2013 because it had campaigned there as a member of the PR pact.
“In the forthcoming by-elections for both Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar, in a one-to-one contest with Umno, the PAS candidates in both constituencies cannot win higher votes but only lower votes as not only non-Malay voters but a sizable number of Malay voters will not vote for PAS because PAS had caused the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat,” he said.
PR was dissolved last year when DAP and PAS went head-to-head on the implementation of hudud, an Islamic penal code.
In Election 2013, PAS was beaten in both seats by Barisan Nasional (BN) with marginal victories of just 399 votes in Sungai Besar and 1,082 votes in Kuala Kangsar.
Lim, however, said PAS would not fare as well as it did in 2013 but was more likely to repeat its performance in the 2004 polls when its candidates only managed to garner just over 30 per cent of the total votes cast in both seats.
The DAP adviser disagreed with the view that a one-to-one contest between PAS and BN in both constituencies would send a message of change to the ruling pact.
He pointed out that PAS’s leaders have in the past defended Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and indicated they were friendly to ruling Umno, despite the controversies plaguing the BN administration.
“In fact, PAS seems to be developing a new personality as a Umno and Najib-friendly party,” he said.
On Sunday, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan said the opposition should only field one candidate in both the looming by-elections and that it did not matter if the person was from PAS.
Dr Mahathir, who was speaking at a Save Malaysia event, said this is to enable voters there to ensure their undivided support for the opposition and send a message to the federal administration that they no longer back Najib.
“But the opposition must make sure the fight is one on one with BN,” he added.
Ambiga, a prominent lawyer and activist, echoed the sentiment and pledged the support of civil society leaders to the fractured opposition if their leaders reached a consensus for a one-on-one battle in the two parliamentary seats.
Yesterday, however, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim disagreed with the view, raising a similar point as Lim’s on PAS’s apparent friendship with Najib.
Zaid, who is, like Dr Mahathir, a key protagonist in the Save Malaysia movement, also said that a straight fight between PAS and BN would only result in the latter party winning in both seats.
Malay Mail Online reported last weekend that the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar parliamentary by-elections could result in three-way fight with BN and a fractured opposition front.
A PKR leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a three-cornered fight involving PKR, BN and PAS may take place in Sungai Besar, Selangor, while another similar three-way battle could occur in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, with Amanah, BN and PAS all throwing their hats in the ring.
The Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar seats fell vacant after the deaths of their respective MPs, Datuk Wan Muhammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad and Datuk Noriah Kasnon, who were among six people killed in a recent helicopter crash in Sarawak.
The Election Commission announced last week that both the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections will take place on June 18.
– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/kit-siang-voters-will-punish-pas-in-coming-by-elections-for-causing-pakatan#sthash.11cpQvMy.dpuf