High stakes for PAS as Pengkalan Kubor race begins

(The Malay Mail) – The Pengkalan Kubor by-election is increasingly looking like an opportunity for PAS to prove itself, as a victory against incumbent Umno could help the Islamist party re-establish its Malay support, as well as reassert itself as a worthy ally in Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

Already, the party’s national leadership has been at loggerheads with its PR partners over the Selangor mentri besar debacle, with both PAS and PKR failing to see eye-to-eye over who should be appointed to the post next.

Observers said the crisis has also exposed the widening rift in PAS between its conservative and progressive factions, which is believed to have cost the party some of its traditional Malay votes in the last federal polls.

“It (the by-election) will be a good yardstick for PAS’s strength among (the) Malay voters,” analyst Khoo Kay Peng told Malay Mail Online.

He agreed that it is imperative for PAS to win this particular by-election, especially due to its public squabble with PKR in the still-unresolved Selangor crisis.

Pengkalan Kubor, which is one of three seats under the Tumpat parliamentary constituency, a PAS stronghold, was held for three terms from 2004 by the late Umno assemblyman Datuk Noor Zahidi Omar.

In the 1999 polls, Pengkalan Kubor was won by PAS. The Islamist party subsequently lost the seat in 2004, however, and PKR went on to field its own for the contest in the next two general elections in 2008 and 2013.

When the by-election was announced following Noor Zahidi’s death, PKR made its intention to re-contest the seat clear.

But earlier this week, in what was seen as a peace offering amid its public feud with PAS in the Selangor debacle, PKR agreed to yield the chance to contest the seat to PAS.

Khoo acknowledged that Kelantan and Tumpat, in general, is a PAS stronghold but the analyst suggested that the party may still have its work cut out for it over the coming weeks when campaigning begins.

Umno, he pointed out, has the power of incumbency, having held the seat for three terms now.

“But since PAS is a Kelantan-based party, as the state government, it would have the resources to run the party machinery for this election,” he said, adding that PAS has a better chance at winning the state seat than PKR.

Speaking to Malay Mail Online yesterday, deputy PAS president Mohamad Sabu echoed his party’s hope of recapturing Pengkalan Kubor by capitalising on its candidate’s popularity as a grassroots leader.

The 56-year-old Wan Rosdi Wan Ibrahim, who is PAS’s coordinator for the Pengkalan Kubor constituency as well as the Tumpat PAS secretary, has a good chance in wresting the seat back, Mohamad said.

“He’s not the type to give fiery speeches but he’s a grassroot leader who attends all social and welfare programmes.

“I think he has a good chance to win,” he said, despite admitting later that Umno does have the upper hand as the incumbent.

On the ground, voters told Malay Mail Online that the contest is still too close to call.

“We all know each other. The Umno candidate was my school mate, and the PAS candidate is a family friend,” Senah Omar said.

The 49-year-old, however, said the winning candidate should be able to revive businesses at the Pengkalan Kubor Duty Free Zone to help it regain its lustre from over a decade ago.

She runs a food stall at the duty-free zone near the Thailand border.

Another voter, 73-year-old Cheng Hon Kiau said she might not even vote as her decision would still depend on whether she “likes” the candidates or not.

Pengkalan Kubor has 24,039 voters, comprising 92 per cent Malays, one per cent Chinese and 6.8 per cent Siamese.

Umno is fielding 48-year-old Mat Razi Mat Ail for the contest, an Umno Tumpat committee member who was formerly an assistant education officer in Tumpat.

Nominations for the contest will kick-off at 8am this morning. Polling day has been set for September 25.