Negri Sembilan Umno chief Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias (left) helping to campaign for Pakatan's Chennah incumbent Anthony Loke in Kg Chennah.
JELEBU: Claims by Perikatan Nasional that it will emerge victorious in five of the six state elections is merely psychological warfare, says Anthony Loke Siew Fook.
The DAP secretary-general said Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin was only trying to motivate Perikatan members by making such a claim.
He said the Perikatan secretary-general, who had served as home minister previously, was quite capable in such matters.
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"I must admit he is good at psychological warfare.
"I am not being arrogant but to see a party's strength, one must see the support from the grassroots.
"Based on voting trends in Negri Sembilan only eight months ago, PAS hardly had any support and it was worse for Bersatu," he said when met while campaigning in Kg Chennah near here on Thursday (Aug 10).
Loke, who is defending the Chennah seat, said a united Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional was a formidable force in Negri Sembilan.
"I admit there are some hot seats this time around but a clean sweep is within reach.
"The Perikatan wave did not reach Negri eight months ago and we made a clean sweep of all eight parliamentary seats," he said when asked to respond to Hamzah's claim that it would win the polls in all states except in Penang.
The Opposition leader claimed the coalition was confident of defending Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu and would also win in Selangor and Negri Sembilan.
He claimed the Indians and Chinese would also support Perikatan as apparent from observations he made during party events.
Loke said among the ridiculous claims made by Perikatan members was that he would be Negri mentri besar if the unity pact won in the state.
"Such claims do not make sense.
"It is merely to instil fear in the minds of the Malays," he said.
Loke said such claims were being made despite state law being clear that the MB should be a Malay Muslim.
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Loke said Barisan also had solid support in rural areas and villages.
"I won the Chennah seat for two terms but I have never been able to win in places like Kg Chennah, Kg Puom, Sg Rokan and in the Orang Asli villages.
"So just how is Perikatan going to make inroads into the state?" he asked.
In the last state polls in 2018, Pakatan won 20 of the 36 seats. Barisan won the remaining 16.
On a separate matter, Loke said the Pakatan and Barisan machineries were working well in all states.
Citing an example, he said Umno had been going all out to support Pakatan candidates in Sungai Pelek and Kuala Kubu Baru although its candidates were Chinese.
"Perikatan is fielding Malay candidates in both constituencies as its strategy as the majority of voters are Malay," he added.
