Abandoned by allies, PAS’s Rompin campaign a dull affair
(The Malaysian Insider) – With two days to go before Rompin voters cast their ballots in the by-election, DAP and PKR have appeared to abandon PAS in favour of the fight in Permatang Pauh, leaving the Islamist party alone in its quest to wrest the parliamentary seat from Barisan Nasional (BN).
PAS’s candidate for Rompin, Nazri Ahmad, is in a straight fight against BN’s Datuk Hasan Arifin but Nazri’s campaign is seen as weak and badly organised and focused on Felda settlements, which make up a large portion of the voters there.
The Pahang PAS Youth chief’s haphazard campaign schedule points to PAS’s lack of readiness to fight and win the Rompin seat, which was held by Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis for six terms.
Even PAS’s top leadership seem to have given up on the Umno stronghold, as the mammoth ceramah Himpunan Derita Rakyat (2.0) in Muadzam Shah last night saw only the party’s state leaders present.
Only PAS Pahang commissioner Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, who is also PAS vice-president and the Rompin PAS election director, appeared at the ceramah, while representatives from other Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties were noticeably absent.
Even the Islamist party’s nightly campaigning has been scaled down. Checks by The Malaysian Insider found PAS’s operations room around the main roads merely showing repeats of past ceramah, or playing speeches from popular Terengganu ustaz Azhar Idrus, on their giant screens.
The lacklustre campaigning suggests that PAS has lost its mojo without DAP and PKR by its side. The latter are busy in the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign, which PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is contesting.
However, Temerloh MP Nasruddin Hassan played down the matter and insisted all was well on the campaign front.
“About 70% of the (Rompin) voters come from Felda settlements. So we are concentrating on those areas,” he told The Malaysian Insider when met at the Hindar 2.0 ceramah yesterday.
“Even without the component parties (helping us), we are okay. The Permatang Pauh by-election is running concurrently, so our manpower is spread thin,” he said.
“But PKR did come to help us. Their machinery was here, their leaders, too.”
The Rompin parliament constituency has 53,596 voters, with 87% comprising Malays living in 14 Felda settlements.
The second biggest voters are the Orang Asli, followed by 9% Indians and just 2% Chinese.
Tuan Ibrahim told The Malaysian Insider that PAS did not employ a general campaign strategy, and instead relied on different approaches for each area, based on the economic activities of the voters.
“Our approach is not the same in each area. Our focus is on Felda settlements, so we have to deal with agencies. The mechanism is rather different.
“We approach the farmers and the fishermen of Rompin differently. We visit the voters’ homes and employ a welfare approach,” said Tuan Ibrahim.
Political analyst Professor Dr Mohamad Agus Yusoff said the factors working against PAS were the fact that it was on its own in the by-election, and that Rompin was an Umno stronghold.
The Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) lecturer said financial constraints also forced PAS to work with limited posters and banners.
“PAS is working alone. Programmes and posters all require huge funds. So, PAS’s campaign and programmes are limited,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Agus, who was also in the constituency to observe the campaign first-hand, said BN would retain the seat.
“The only question is the majority will BN get.”
