The Malaysian Insight

PAS is losing its influence over supporters due to various issues surrounding the Islamist party since its maiden stint in Putrajaya, political analysts said.

Controversies involving some of its leaders and the questionable performance of some of its ministers will have an impact on voter support, they said.

“PAS’ performance will decline, we expect thr party to lose more seats because of the issues surrounding their leaders while their performance in the government was also not encouraging,” said Universiti Teknologi Malaysia political analyst Dr Mazlan Ali.

He predicted losses for the party, which has 18 seats in Parliament.

“Even in states such as Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, where PAS rules and has hardcore supporters, GE15 will be difficult, especially in Terengganu,” he said.

In the 2018 elections, PAS won Terengganu from Barisan Nasional with a simple majority after winning more than half of the 32 state assembly seats.

Mazlan said Umno has an advantage over PAS in Terengganu due to the latter’s failure to bring progress to the state

“Based on my observations, many people are dissatisfied with the PAS administration because unlike under Umno, there is no development under PAS. They keep blaming the Covid-19 pandemic for the lack of progress.

“When Umno lost Terengganu in GE14, it was also due to national issues, such as the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal (and not local development issues).

“Umno also did not lose its seats in Terengganu by big margins,” Mazlan added.

While PAS recaptured Terengganu from Umno and defended Kelantan in GE14, it lost badly in Selangor, winning only one state seat in Sijangkang.

The Islamist party had depicted itself as a “king-maker”, creating three -cornered fights in many seats and in the end only winning 18 of the more than 150 parliamentary seats it contested.

After GE14, PAS and Umno formed Muafakat Nasional but ties between the two parties soured when PAS persisted in supporting Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) aftet Umno fell out with the coalition.

Universiti Malaya political analyst Awang Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi noted that PAS’s nearly 18 months in Putrajaya were marred by the bad behaviour of some of its cabinet members.

Then plantation and commodity industry minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali was caught several times violating Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) times, and then deputy minister of agriculture and food industry II Che Abdullah Mat Nawi was criticised for getting married via the services of a Thai marriage agent during lockdown.

PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hasssan, who was de facto law minister, was also criticised for misleading the Dewan Rakyat over unilateral revocation of emergency ordinances.

Takiyuddin was even named by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah in a statement in July as having disrespected the monarch’s constitutional powers as the head of state.

“PAS’ position and popularity are increasingly affected as its performance in government has been deemed unsatisfactory while issues involving their ministers have angered the people,” Awang Azman said.

As for the party’s staunch Muslim supporters, PAS has disappointed them by appearing “passive” in religious-related issues. It had failed to introduce hudud and crack down on gambling and the consumption of alcohol, which the Islamist party had vowed to do when it was an opposition party.

Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer Dr Azmil Tayeb said PAS’ influence was mostly limited to within Kelantan, Terengganu and to a smaller extent, Kedah.

Looking at the party’s overall performance for the past one year, he said the conclusion many had come to was that PAS was not capable of ruling at federal level.

As such, it will not be able to present itself as an alternative to Umno to voters outside its strongholds.

“PAS’ performance in the PN government was not encouraging and it was also full of controversy. So PAS is seen as incapable of federal rule,” he said. – August 24, 2021.