Ahmad Yunus Hairi, who heads PAS’ Kuala Langat division, claimed that the locals’ support for his party remained strong and the redrawing of Sijangkang’s electoral borders would backfire on BN.
“Under the redelineation exercise, the Election Commission (EC) plans to move Malay voters in Teluk Datuk to the Sijangkang constituency, but it is wrong if it thinks this will help BN capture the seat after 10 years,” he told FMT.
He claimed that voter support in the area had not shifted away from PAS since he wrested the seat from Umno in 2008.
Referring to the EC’s move to conduct local inquiries on its redelineation exercise as soon as the Court of Appeal dismissed the Selangor government’s challenge against it, he said the rush clearly showed that the commission wanted to confirm the new boundaries before the 14th general election although it didn’t have to. He said the public was wise enough to know why.
Civic groups have criticised the redelineation exercise, saying it does not comply with guidelines under the Federal Constitution and alleging that it is an attempt to give BN an advantage in the coming election.
Sijangkang, along with Teluk Datuk and Morib, lies within the Kuala Langat parliamentary constituency.
The current Kuala Langat MP is PKR’s Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid.
Teluk Datuk, renamed Banting under the proposed redelineation, is held by Loh Chee Heng, who was with DAP when he won the seat but has since become independent. Morib is held by Hasnul Baharuddin, who has left PAS to join Amanah.
Yunus said he did not fear the possibility of having to face both Umno and Amanah in the coming election.
“Selangor PAS has done its research and found that Malay support for Amanah is very small in the state, about 2.7%,” he said.
Addressing claims that some PAS divisions and members in Morib had become inactive after Hasnul quit the party in 2015, he said these were due to “technical” reasons.
“I may be biased, but when Hasnul was our secretary, he did not send division reports to the Registrar of Societies and this caused most of the branches to be deregistered. It has nothing to do with PAS members leaving and causing the divisions to be inactive.”
He added that PAS had managed to re-register 41 divisions and was continuing to recruit members.
“We recently registered 500 new members in Kuala Langat,” he said. “The total number of members there is now more than 2,000.”