Clear rejection of PAS struggles

(Bernama) – The Barisan Nasional’s (BN) impressive victory in the by-elections for the state constituencies of Merlimau, here and Kerdau, in Pahang is like an endorsement of the economic and social programmes initiated by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that at the same time, the voters clearly rejected the PAS struggles through the orange book and Islamic country.

“This is an indication that the PAS struggles are not accepted by the Malays. This is not the first time because they had been defeated in Galas, Batu Sapi and today in Merlimau and Kerdau,” he told reporters after attending the announcement on the victory of the BN candidate at the vote tallying centre for the Merlimau by-election at the Politeknik Merlimau, here tonight.

Muhyiddin, who is also the BN deputy chairman, said several issues that were highlighted could be explained to the voters, including issues on the economy, price hikes and education which were well received.

BN retained the Merlimau state seat when its candidate, Roslan Ahmad, defeated PAS candidate Yuhaizad Abdullah with a majority of 3,643 votes. Roslan received 5,962 votes while Yuhaizad had 2,319.

BN also retained the Kerdau state seat when its candidate, Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad beat PAS candidate Hassanuddin Salim with a 2,724-vote majority.

Syed Ibrahim polled 5,060 votes while Hassanuddin had 2,336.

Muhyiddin said the BN victories tonight, which were most significant and encouraging, were also a manifestation of the feel-good factor which repeated the momentum of the previous by-elections.

“This is a good momentum where the development and economic policies adopted by Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam in Malacca and Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob were accepted,” he said.

National scenario

Asked whether the victories would lead to the 13th general election, Muhyiddin said: “Although the win in the by-election was an excellent result, it does not reflect the national scenario in general.”

“The general election will be faced when the party machinery works harder and is re focused and there are no party problems at the divisional levels so that we can achieve an outcome that we can be proud of,” he said.

Muhyiddin said the BN victories tonight reflected the support of the Malay community, which was very good as well as that of the Indian community, which was also very good.

“I thank the component parties MIC, PPP and Makkal Sakthi because of the percentage (of voter turnout) and support for the BN,” he said.

He said the support of the Chinese community showed an increase too, but not as good as the votes from the Malays and Indians.

“I hope that in future, the votes from the Chinese community will be bigger when they understand our policies,” he said.

On the general election, he said only the prime minister knew better and it was all up to him.

Asked whether the victory was also based on the choice of the young candidate fielded by the BN, Muhyiddin said it was also a factor but what was obvious was that the candidate must have integrity besides being clean and a “winnable” candidate.

Also present were Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam, Umno vice-president Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, PPP president M Kayveas and other BN leaders.