Kit Siang mocks Hadi’s 40 PAS MPs ‘fantasy’ in GE14

DAP veteran describes the PAS president’s yearning for his party to control five states in the 14th general election as part of a delusion.

(FMT) – DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has called PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s claim that PAS could win 40 parliamentary seats and possibly take control of five states in the next general election (GE14) a “pipe dream”.

Lim said Hadi’s assertion about having such targets for GE14 was based more on fantasy than facts.

“Hadi is deluding himself as well as other PAS leaders and supporters if he thinks PAS can perform better in GE14 compared with GE13 if PAS goes it alone,” the DAP parliamentary head said in a statement today.

“His fantasy of 40 parliament seats is a pipe-dream at best, a delusion at worst,” Lim added.

News about Hadi’s plans broke out after a news portal published a video of him saying PAS needed to maintain its hold over Kelantan while winning Terengganu, Kedah and Selangor, and that it needed to lead Perak.

Hadi also said in the video that Umno-BN could have the remaining states.

However, Hadi later denied saying this during an event in Cyberjaya on March 18, stating that the Islamist party’s only goal was to win 40 parliamentary seats.

Lim said PAS supporters should realise this was Hadi’s fantasy, and to see “real change” in Malaysia they should instead vote for Pakatan Harapan (PH) which now includes Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, in addition to DAP, PKR and Amanah.

The Gelang Patah MP noted that PAS had its best performance when it was part of an opposition coalition and had an electoral pact with opposition parties.

He said PAS won 27 parliamentary seats in the election in 1999 when it was part of the Barisan Alternatif. It then won 23 seats in 2008 when there was an electoral understanding with DAP and PKR to avoid three-cornered fights.

As part of the Pakatan Rakyat in the election in 2013 it won 21 parliamentary seats.

“When it contested on its own, PAS’ best electoral performance was in 1959 when it won 13 parliament seats,” Lim said.

“Even when PAS was part of the newly-created Barisan Nasional in the 1974 general election, it only managed to win 13 parliamentary seats.”

Lim said the most optimistic scenario for PAS in the next election was to avoid three-cornered fights with PH, run in the same seats it contested in GE13, win an additional 2% support from Malay voters, while losing only 50% of Chinese support and 30% of Indian support compared with the last election.

“In this case, PAS will be reduced from 21 parliament seats to just 13 parliament seats, a far cry from the 40 which Hadi is fantasising about,” Lim said.

He said the worst-case scenario would be Malay voters punishing PAS because it is seen as being too close to Umno, decreasing Malay votes by 2%, with PAS’ Chinese support dropping by 60% and Indian support by 40%.

“Even if PAS manages to avoid three-cornered fights under this scenario, PAS will see its number of seats fall to a mere six, all of which are in Kelantan,” Lim said.

He also said the notion that PAS can on its own win enough state seats in Selangor in GE14 to form the state government was a “fantasy”.

“I for one would be very surprised if PAS could on its own win more than two seats in Selangor in GE14,” he said.