KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali today admitted that new Indian party Makkal Sakthi's alliance with the Barisan Nasional had resulted in the party losing the support of the non-Malays in Bagan Pinang.
In its first by-election defeat in the peninsula since Election 2008, PAS’s Zulkefly Omar lost the Negri Sembilan state seat by 5,435 votes. Last year, Umno only won Bagan Pinang by 2,333 votes.
The Islamist party also lost all 19 polling streams. It won five in Election 2008, four of which are dominated by non-Malays.
“In a way Makkal Sakthi affected our share of non-Malay votes and the announcement that the party was endorsing BN,” said Mustafa in an interview.
The Makkal Sakthi Party led by former Hindraf leader RS Thanenthiran was launched during the Bagan Pinang campaign and officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his attempt to look for new Indian ally, after MIC lost the support of the community.
“We cannot just dismiss them, they have decreased the support to Pakatan Rakyat (PR), not just PAS,” said Mustafa when presenting his findings from the campaign.
He is also aware of claims that many members of the Makkal Sakthi Party are from the PAS supporters’ club.
When asked whether the party will hasten the move to formalise the role of non-Muslim supporters in PAS, Mustafa said the matter has to be carefully assessed.
“PAS’s core supporters is still the Malays, the discussion whether we should have full membership for supporters has to consider this factor, whether it will affect this core group,” said Mustafa adding that the plan to form the non-Muslim wing in PAS is in the pipeline.
Mustafa however dismissed the suggestion that various controversies involving the Selangor PAS chief Datuk Hasan Ali had affected the party’s campaign in Indian areas.
Hasan, who is also a Selangor executive councillor, had tried to ban the sale of beer in convenience stores in Malay majority areas, empowered mosque officials to act as moral police and also criticised the state legislative special committee, Selcat’s investigations against senior civil servants.
“In Permatang Pasir, Selangor issues were also brought up but it didn’t affect our campaign,” said Mustafa pointing out DAP’s strong presence during Bagan Pinang.
He admitted that the party did not expect to be badly defeated at the recent Bagan Pinang by-election but was quick to add it cannot be used as indicator for both Barisan Nasional (BN) and PR.
“I didn’t expect that big majority, I thought we could maintain or reduce the majority,” said Mustafa, who used to head the party’s election department.
But the PAS veteran strategist warned that the by-election where Umno fielded local strongman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad cannot be used as a benchmark.
“Similarly, Pakatan Rakyat cannot be complacent by making excuses that we can afford to lose this one,” said Mustafa.
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