They also claim that PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man’s reported promise to ensure that BN does not regain Selangor will fail if votes for non-BN parties are split if they run against each other.
PAS’ official mouthpiece, Harakah Daily, had on Sunday reported Tuan Ibrahim as saying the party will continue to defend the state from Umno, and that it will also contest in states where it managed to win seats in the last general election (GE13).
The assertion came days after the party shot down any prospect about discussing seat allocations for GE14 with PKR. The party has also been steadfast in its refusal to work with any party that cooperates with Amanah and DAP.
Political analyst Faisal S Hazis, an associate professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said it would be impossible for PAS to win Selangor without the support of PH parties, especially its former allies in the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat, PKR and DAP.
“Before this PAS had a political pact with them which gave it the edge to gain the support of the Chinese,” he said, referring to the former opposition coalition which came to an end in June 2015.
“It was a proven strategy then and they managed to shift from being a regional party to a national party because their ideology cut across religion,” Faisal told FMT.
He added that the Islamist party was now seen to be “mono-ethnic” and thus will not be able to win Selangor which has a diverse demographic composition.
Merdeka Center for Opinion Research executive director Ibrahim Suffian said the only way for PAS to win against BN in Selangor was to have a pact with other parties not to field candidates in each other’s seats.
He said this would prevent votes from opposition supporters being divided thus giving BN a better chance of victory.
“For example, if PAS places candidates in existing PKR seats, their supporters in those constituencies would most likely choose PAS over PKR.
“This will split the opposition votes and allow BN to win the state with the popular votes,” Ibrahim said.
Universiti Malaya associate professor Awang Azman Awang Pawi said PAS’s sizeable victory in Selangor in the last general election was not just due to its machinery, but also the support of DAP and PKR.
“This was because at that time the PAS slogan was ‘PAS for all’,” he said.
Awang Azman added that Tuan’s Ibrahim’s view carried a great deal of weight and importance as he was considered to be Hadi Awang’s successor in the event the PAS president steps down.
PAS has been a member of the Selangor government since the 2008 general election when it was part of a united opposition that also included PKR and DAP which wrested the state from Barisan Nasional (BN).
Currently, DAP has the most number of state seats with 14, followed by PKR (13) and Amanah (2). Both Amanah assemblymen won their seats contesting as PAS candidates in the last general election (GE13).
Meanwhile, BN has 12 seats, all of which are under Umno, while PAS has 13 and the remaining two seats are held by independent candidates.
On Aug 24, PAS had announced plans to contest in 42 state seats in Selangor, which is double the number of seats it contested in GE13.