Have own unified polls date to thwart Najib, Pakatan told
By Free Malaysia Today
KOTA BARU: The four Pakatan Rakyat states have been advised to band together and fix a date for early state elections and not play into the hands of Umno-Barisan Nasional.
PAS central committee member Husam Musa said such a move would ensure that all decisions related to the general election are discussed with Pakatan.
“If the election date for the four Pakatan states are fixed early, then the federal government will be forced to decide whether to negotiate with Pakatan or hold parliamentary national polls,” said Husam.
He was commenting on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s statement that the decision on when to hold the polls was in his (Najib’s) hands.
“Najib has promised that the date, when announced, will be shocking. That’s what he said in Kelantan yesterday.
“If that is Najib’s promise and we just follow, then once again we are playing into Umno’s hands and Umno will have the upper hand,” he wrote in his blog.
Husam, who is also a senior executive councillor in Kelantan, said a surprise election was aimed at trapping the opposition and catching it at its weakest.
He said the political field in Malaysia was no more a level ground after Umno took control of the country.
“It’s no more a level field partly because the Umno-Alliance and Umno-BN’s victories up to now have been based on it controlling all the important instruments related to the election process.
“After every two elections, the ruling power would alter the electoral borders and change the Malay-Chinese-Indian voter dynamics… to ensure it gets an easy win,” he said.
This time, however, Husam said, BN could not do so because it had lost its two-thirds majority for the first time.
“Now the only thing left is the date of the general election. If Najib is brave enough to declare that he is in command, how can we second-guess him?
“I suggest that the four Pakatan states come together and fix a date for the state elections as early as possible.
“Before Najib dissolves Parliament, we should announce our elections,” said Husam.
Simultaneous polls unlikely
Husam said it was not necessary that the state polls be held early but what is important is that the announcement is made early.
