VETERAN politician Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang has rubbished Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) claims that the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim-led unity government will collapse if it suffers reversals in the six state polls next month.
“The Sabah and Sarawak party leaders’ promise not to oust the current federal government following the state polls has highlighted the fact that all PN’s forecasts are utter bunkum,” the former Iskandar Puteri MP said in a statement today (July 13).
“However, there is no doubt that victories for the Anwar unity government will make a reset and return to the original nation-building principles for a plural Malaysia which the nation’s founding fathers (which included the first three Prime Ministers who were also UMNO presidents) have written into the Constitution and Rukun Negara stronger and more likely to succeed.”
On the likely results of the six state polls on Aug 12, Lim cited Selangor Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari as saying that the coalition is confident of winning at least 33 out of the 56 State Legislative Assembly seats in the state elections.
Amirudin also said he is not ruling out the possibility of winning two-thirds majority in the Selangor State Assembly.
Meanwhile, Lim, who is also a former DAP secretary-general also poured cold water on PN’s confidence of forming state governments in Selangor and Penang.
“PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said PN can win ‘nearly 20 seats’ in Penang and does not rule out winning the next Penang state government, while the incumbent coalition is hoping to win a two-thirds majority in the Penang State Assembly on Aug 12,” Lim noted.
“But what is clear is that regardless of the outcome of the six state polls on Aug 12, the Anwar unity government at the federal level is not going to fall.”
Last month, PN chairman Muhyiddin said he is confident that a near-majority win in Penang is within reach despite anticipating an uphill battle for the coalition in the upcoming state elections.
Saying that PN could win “nearly 20” state seats, the Bersatu president urged coalition members to work extra hard to win one more seat for a simple majority in the 40-seat legislature.
“We need only 21 seats to do this. Now, it is almost 20. So, if we want to win, we just need a bit more effort. Just one more percent of your power,” he was quoted as saying by FMT.
However, despite Muhyiddin’s confidence of winning at least 20 seats in Penang, a PN leader who was speaking on condition of anonymity told FMT yesterday (July 12) that the odds are stacked against the coalition taking over Penang as most of Penang’s Chinese population firmly supports PH.
“If it is the Chinese community that determines who governs (the state), it will be challenging for PN to capture Penang,” the source was quoted as saying by FMT.
The source went on to say that there was also no guarantee that PN would win the predominantly Malay populated seats in the state, adding that the coalition had its work cut out to garner support.
He added that the 14-day campaign period for the polls left little time for PN to persuade voters who were not aligned with the coalition.
During the previous Penang state elections back in 2018, PH won a whopping 37 state seats compared to Barisan Nasional (BN) who won two seats and Gagasan Sejahtera who won one seat.
Meanwhile, during the last Selangor state election in 2018, PH won 51 out of 56 state assembly seats available in Selangor as BN only managed to win only four seats and PAS only managed to win one.
Both Penang and Selangor have been ruled by PH since 2008. – July 13, 2023
Main pic credit: Facebook/ Lim Kit Siang (林吉祥)
