Utusan Malaysia editor Zulkifli Jalil in a column yesterday, said PKR “will be buried” if it sets PAS aside, claiming that the party led by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail needed PAS for its political survival.
“Looking at the opposition’s achievement during the last general election (GE13), DAP and PKR had for a long time enjoyed the benefits of being in Pakatan Rakyat. Benefits which were generated by PAS.”
He also said that PKR’s performance in the four general elections held between 1999 and 2013 showed that it had failed to dominate single-race constituencies.
It had instead relied on the strength of its Pakatan Rakyat allies, DAP and PAS, in mixed-race seats.
“In 1999, the only parliamentary seat with less than 70% Malay voters that PKR won, was Permatang Pauh (67% Malays),” Zulkifli said.
Permatang Pauh is a PKR stronghold, a seat that was held by former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
“(And) the only state seat with less than 70% of Malay voters, that PKR won, was Penanti, which is part of the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency.
“Everyone knows that there are a lot of PAS supporters in Penanti.”
Zulkifli said the reason why PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali supported Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (PPBM) effort to work with PAS, was because he realised just how strong the Islamist party is.
According to Zulkifli, it wasn’t easy for Azmin to express his support, considering that both PPBM and PKR are DAP’s allies.
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has repeatedly said that he would not let his party “fall into the same hole twice” by working with DAP again.
But DAP needs to realise that without PAS, it will not be able to get the Malay votes, the Utusan editor said.
“PAS was dominant even before DAP and PKR got to where they are now.
“In the 1999 general election, PAS emerged as the biggest winner in the then coalition known as Barisan Alternatif, bagging 27 parliamentary seats, 98 state seats, and the party formed the state government in Terengganu and Kelantan.
“At the time, DAP was disappointed when it won only 10 parliamentary seats, and 11 state seats, while PKR, which had just emerged on the political scene, took five parliamentary seats and four state seats.”
Zulkifli added that the only reason DAP now has 38 parliamentary seats, was because of its alliance with PAS in the then Pakatan Rakyat.
“These include 16 parliamentary seats in the peninsula, which have less than 60% Chinese voters. Nine of these seats have less than 50% Chinese voters.
“DAP also won 44 state seats which have less than 60% Chinese voters (15 of them with less than 50% Chinese voters),” he said.