PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang has warned that if Malays lack political awareness, Malaysia could be taken over by non-Muslims.
Hadi said last night at a forum in Kuala Lumpur that while Perikatan Nasional (PN) had Malay support, Pakatan Harapan (PH) was now in power due to non-Muslim support.
“(After the elections) I met Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Although we are seen to be enemies, behind closed doors we can talk.
“He invited me to his house. He was very worried because of the 15th General Election (GE15). Although PN succeeded in winning the Malay and Muslim votes, PH (formed the government) by winning the non-Muslim vote,” Malaysiakini reported Hadi as saying.
According to Hadi, non-Muslim turnout was 98% while Muslim turnout was only 68%. It is worrying to him.
Moreover, since last December, Hadi has been spreading his “low Malay turnout” theory. He claimed that Malay turnout was “around 60%” at the time.
The actual voter turnout for the election was 74.04%, which was a remarkable achievement given that the voter list had grown by 41.72% since GE14.
Researcher Bridget Welsh has disputed Hadi’s numbers and instead posited that Malays had the best turnout at 79%.
Welsh also claimed that her research showed that only 54% of Malay voters supported PN.
Furthermore, Hadi further stated that Malays must understand the significance of voting and elections.
He said that some see going for umrah as more important than voting. If that is the case, Hadi claimed, we (Malays) will be controlled by others in the future.
“If only 68% (of Muslims) vote, while 98% of non-Muslims do the same, it is very dangerous.
“Praise be to God that in Parliament, Muslims make up 160 members – more than two-thirds. We should have been able to control (Parliament together). But this is politics. They don’t want to unite.
“For example, in Perak and Pahang, (PN) could have collaborated with UMNO but UMNO was worried that it will be ‘killed’ by PAS.
“The fact is, PH is killing UMNO,” he noted. — March 1, 2023
Main photo credit: Bernama
