MADANI government backers have hit out at Perikatan Nasional (PN) for resorting to play the ‘pig card’ in its Ayer Kuning by-election campaign when PAS which is the coalition’s biggest ally has previously ‘bragged’ that it has no issue with pig rearing even in Kelantan which is under its rule.
This came about after PAS vice-president Datuk Idris Ahmad raised concerns about an alleged excess of pig farms in Malay-majority areas within the Ayer Kuning state constituency.
PN berang dengan jumlah ladang babi di Ayer Kuning https://t.co/Bbd1SnWdsP
— Malaysiakini (BM) (@mkini_bm) April 17, 2025
“According to information on the Perak Veterinary Department’s website, there are 30 licensed pig farms in the Batang Padang and Mualim districts alone,” the Bagan Serai MP told a media conference at PN’s operations centre in Bidor, Perak, yesterday (April 17).
However, Idris alleged that PN’s field observations found “numerous” legal and illegal pig farms in Malay-majority areas such as Kampung Tanjung Keramat which has a 98.9% Muslim population.
“Residents in these areas have to put up with foul odours daily while also facing the constant threat of infectious diseases due to waste pollution caused by these pig farms,” he added.
Idris’ statement prompted a pro-Madani netizen to share news reports of PAS openly declared that it has no qualms with non-Muslims operating pig farms.
This led to BULETIN RMS (@RajaMohdShahrim) asking why PAS did not just shut down the pig farms when it governed the state.
Although a pro-PN supporter corrected BULETIN RMS with a Bernama report dated Nov 24, 2021 that a total of 34 pig farms had been closed in Perak for not meeting licensing requirements, the former responded with another news report that no closure took place.
Instead, the Perak Veterinary Services Department (JPV) had only ordered pig farm operators in Malim Nawar to improve their operations so as to prevent odour pollution in the surrounding area.
In fact, another commenter sided BULETIN RMS that even during PN’s 33-month administration, both the former Perak menteri besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu (currently Bersatu vice-president) and the PAS Perak state commissioner Razman Zakaria had never made a fuss about pig farms.
This led to accusations that the pig farm issue is raised to canvass for votes from Ayer Kuning’s 31,940 eligible voters, of whom the Malays made up 55.97%, Chinese (22.9%), Indians (14.38%) and others (7.5%).
At the end of the day, a commenter summed up PAS’ tendency to ride on anything that it deems capable of enabling the Islamist party to obtain or hold on to power with a meme. – April 18, 2025
