The Malaysian Insight

BARISAN Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) grassroots leaders have admitted it will be tough to sell their new partnership to their respective members facing state polls in Kelantan and Terengganu.

However, they remain confident of overcoming any problems – including those related to seat distribution – in working together to face their rival Perikatan Nasional (PN) in elections due next year.

The two new allies are also aware of the PAS challenge and trying to topple the ruling party of the two states.

Terengganu BN leader Nik Dir Nik Wan Ku said the most important thing was for both coalitions to find the best formula and strategy to win in the state polls.

Nik Dir, who is also the state Umno information chief, said the task of making the party infrastructure accept PH was made easier since the coalition was dominated by PKR and Amanah in Terengganu, and not DAP.

He said for years the Umno leadership had planted the anti-DAP narrative among members.

“This problem exists but it does not burden Umno in Terengganu because the context for the state election is not the same.

“If we look at the context of PH in Terengganu, it is only represented by PKR and Amanah. DAP is not very visible here, and all seats are Malay majority.

“I don’t think there will be a problem, we just have to find the seats to suit the strengths of PKR and Amanah,” he said.

Nik Dir added they are currently waiting for instructions from party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on how the allies will divide seats among them.

Nik Dir said in principle, Umno Terengganu agreed that PH can compete in several seats in next year’s state polls.

State polls in PH-run Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan, and PAS-led Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah did not take place during the recent general election.

PN, which consists of PAS and Bersatu, gained major ground in Malay areas in the general election, especially in the east coast and northern states.

Dominated by PAS, the coalition made a clean sweep of federal seats in Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis, and was defeated in only one federal seat in Kedah.

PN turned out to be the second biggest winner in after PH, but neither coalition won anywhere near enough seats to form the government on its own.

As a result, PH formed an alliance with rival BN, and other pacts from Sabah and Sarawak to form a unity government.

Following this partnership, PH and BN are now set to face PN in the coming state elections.

 

Tough to break Perikatan’s dominance

Traditionally, the state seats in Kelantan and Terengganu are dominated by PAS and Umno, with PKR and Amanah soundly beaten in previous elections.

PAS has been ruling Kelantan since 1990, and has 36 seats in the 44-seat state assembly. Its ally Bersatu has one, while Umno has seven.

In Terengganu, PAS controls 23 seats while Umno has the remaining 10.

The difficult challenge ahead was acknowledged by a Kelantan PKR grassroots leader who said the combination of PH and BN could still be insufficient to penetrate PAS’s dominance in the east coast.

The leader, who declined to be named, expects PAS to remain unchallenged in the two states after sweeping all the parliamentary seats there last month.

The Tanah Merah PKR branch leader also expects PAS to continue to attract the support of Malay voters by attacking PH and BN with racist rhetoric.

In addition, the appointment of Zahid, mired in corruption issues, as deputy prime minister in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s cabinet will also be the main campaign impetus, he said.

However, he believes that PH and BN can still compete with better strategies, more funding and broader explanations.

“If we look at the general election, it is clear in Kelantan and Terengganu that the people have rejected Umno, but there may be a reason why our president Anwar decided to work with them.

“The only argument at the moment is because of the need to form a unity government,” he said.

He said PH needs to mobilise better and develop new strategies in facing the state elections.

“The strategy for PKR must be right. Our federal leadership must realise that we are the government today, so our fight must be like the party in power, not like we are the opposition.

“We hope the federal leadership can give us adequate funding as we don’t want to fight with sticks and stones, while our rivals use guns and nuclear weapons,” he said.

He also said that so far there have not been any instructions from the top for state PH to start talks with BN on their new collaboration in facing state elections.

“Even at the federal level, there is still no discussion, so for now it is still unclear how the new line-up will be formed,” he said.

He said that PH can concentrate on at least three seats in Kelantan.

“It’s just that personally, for PKR we don’t care about the distribution of seats, even if PH gets three seats, it’s enough based on our strength in the east coast,” he said. – December 14, 2022.