‘BN’s reduced majority is victory for PAS’

(The Rakyat Post) – Pahang PAS commissioner Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the party accepted the defeat handed it by Barisan Nasional (BN) at the Rompin by-election today.

“After following the result of the Rompin by-election, PAS congratulates Umno for retaining the seat,” Tuan Ibrahim said tonight.

Earlier, it was announced that BN had retained the Rompin seat via its candidate Datuk Hasan Arifin, who defeated PAS’ Nazri Ahmad by an 8,895-vote majority.

Hasan, however, recorded a reduced majority of 6,219 votes as compared with the 15,114-vote majority garnered by the seat’s incumbent,Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis.

“As for PAS, I see this result as a good achievement, especially in increasing the percentage of those who voted for us at all the polling centres in Rompin.

“We hope this result will help the candidate in Permatang Pauh.

“This is because our candidate here managed to reduce Umno’s majority by almost half in what is Umno’s stronghold.”

Tuan Ibrahim added that he was proud of the result they achieved because all of the ballot boxes showed an improvement for PAS, which then led to the reduced majority for BN.

“This is something to be proud of because by-elections are tougher than general elections.

“The most proudest achievement is our win in Felda areas for the younger voters channel, something we never managed to do before this here.”

Tuan Ibrahim also said that issues like the Goods and Services Tax (GST), housing, employment and agriculture were among those that garnered the most attention in this by-election.

Meanwhile, Nazri said the result was good news for PAS.

“Alhamdulillah, the by-election is over. Even though we didn’t win, this result has made us all very happy,” Nazri said.

He also thanked the Pahang PAS by-election machinery as well as those from out of state for the help they gave during the campaign period.

“I wish to thank all those involved and may this result open more opportunities for us in the coming general election. Insya Allah, we will move our party machinery to greater heights to get the best results in the next GE.”