Wednesday May 8, 2013

GE13: PAS: DAP benefited most from pact

By SIRA HABIBU
sira@thestar.com.my

ALOR SETAR: PAS has admitted that DAP benefited the most from its cooperation with the party and PKR under Pakatan Rakyat in the just-concluded general election.

According to PAS deputy ulama chief Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed, the major gains by the DAP was the result of its solid Chinese support.

PAS, he said, also gained some trickle-down effect from what had been termed by some as the “Chinese tsunami” but at the same time suffered setbacks in some Malay areas.

The party, he said, made inroads in urban areas, especially in Selangor where it increased its number of state seats from eight to 15 but lost in other rural Malay areas.

DAP garnered an additional 10 parliamentary seats, making it 38, while PAS and PKR won fewer parliamentary seats, 21 and 30 respectively. In 2008 PAS won 23 seats, PKR 31 and DAP 28.

DAP also secured the most number of state seats nationwide in Sunday's polls, from 72 in the last general election to 95, followed by PAS (from 73 to 85) and PKR (from 41 to 49).

He said PAS lost Kedah and six seats in Kelantan because many people there did not have access to social media.

When asked if the party would demand that its candidate be appointed as mentri besar in Selangor as it had secured more seats than PKR, Dr Mahfodz said it was up to the members of the state legislative assembly to decide.

PAS and DAP secured 15 state seats each in Selangor, while PKR has 14 seats.

Kedah former executive councillor Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah, meanwhile, said the party lost the state because of claims that a vote for Pakatan Rakyat was a vote for Chinese chauvinism.

He said people in rural areas were taken in by the propaganda.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali, ulama chief Datuk Harun Taib and its permanent chairman Datuk Abu Kassim Abdullah, meanwhile, have denied that the party lost Kedah because of its alliance with DAP.

Abu Kassim said PAS won in areas where non-Malay population ratio was high in Kedah and lost in Malay majority areas of Bayu and Kupang.

“We won in Kuala Ketil, which has many Indian voters, and although we lost Kota Siputeh, many Chinese in Kodiang (one of the voting districts in Kota Siputeh) voted for PAS,” he said.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

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Wednesday May 8, 2013

GE13: PAS: DAP benefited most from pact

By SIRA HABIBU sira@thestar.com.my

By SIRA HABIBU
sira@thestar.com.my