MORE Malay are now supporting PAS and Perikatan Nasional (PN) after the coalition’s impressive victory in Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan in the Aug 12 state polls, with support for PAS also seeing an increase in Selangor, Penang and Negri Sembilan.
UMNO used to be a safe haven for the Malays but the outcome of the 15th general election (GE15) and the most recent six state elections have indicated otherwise, with the grand old party winning a paltry 19 out of 108 seats it had contested in.
Speaking to Utusan Malaysia, PAS spiritual leader Datuk Hashim Jasin said the “green wave” or more specifically, PN is still going strong in the state polls, thus indicating a complete shift in Malay support for the coalition.
“Given its current performance, it is not impossible that UMNO will follow in the footsteps of MCA as it gradually loses support and eventually sinks,” Hashim told the Malay-language news portal today (Aug 16).
“Therefore, MPs from UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the current unity government can make judge for themselves since the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-BN coalition is difficult to accept, especially for the Malays.
“Malays used to rely on UMNO, but what UMNO is doing is causing support to dwindle day by day. It is not impossible, but the future will be worse,” the former Arau MP said.
Meanwhile, Hashim congratulated PAS and PN for their overall achievement, particularly in Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu, where PN won all the 32 state assembly seats.
In fact, he said, PAS’s performance also improved in states such as Penang, Negri Sembilan and Selangor with the party managed to win a few more seats than before.
PN had won 146 seats out of 246 contested, including making a clean sweep of Terengganu’s 32 state assembly seats and was close to doing the same in Kedah and Kelantan in the Aug 12 six state polls.
The PH-BN unity coalition managed to retain Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Penang at the polls, though PN had made some inroads in these states.
In Selangor, PN has managed to secure 22 seats out of the state’s 56 seats and PN has also managed to penetrate into PH’s stronghold of Penang by winning 11 seats out of Penang’s 40 state seats.
PN only managed to win 5 seats in Negri Sembilan, with PH-BN reasserted their dominance in the state by winning 31 out of 36 state assembly seats. – Aug 16, 2023
Main pic credit: Sinar Harian