Chinese will abandon PAS, warns observer
(TMI) – “The PAS delegates have repeated history instead of creating history. What we have done for the last 10 years is gone just like that. In the last decade, the Chinese were still afraid of PAS which it considered as extremist. We tried so long to clear such labels.”
The recent PAS polls, which saw leaders from its progressive faction almost wiped out by the ulama class, will see the Chinese community abandoning the Islamist party that they had backed in the last general election, said political columnist Lim Hong Siang.
With fears over the party adopting a more conservative approach, Lim believed the Chinese will not throw their support behind PAS again in the next general election as the recent polls clearly disappointed their sentiments and destroyed their spirits.
“The Chinese, who for a long time have a phobia against PAS, phobia against Islam, finally decided to do their best to support PAS in the 13th general election,” he said while narrating the contents of the book “Tsunami Cina” at the “Post-Muktamar, Where is PAS Headed” forum at the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese assembly hall last night.
He was one of the panelists, who described how the mostly non-Muslim Chinese community had for the first time, put up PAS flags in front of their houses as a sign of support for the Islamist party.
“For the first time, they flew in from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, Australia, the United States to come back to vote for the rocket, or PKR or PAS,” he said in referring to the DAP’s party symbol.
All three parties are part of the loose opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
“And today I can promise you, this phenomena, this sentiment will not happen at the 14th general election. This is a promise.”
