TUN M: PAS ACTUALLY HANDING VICTORY TO UMNO

Pas performed poorly in past elections when it contested alone, says former PM

SOO WERN JUN

KUALA LUMPUR wern.jun@nst.com.my

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Pas’ decision to distance the party from the Pakatan Harapan pact is to weaken the Malays.

The former prime minister said both Pakatan and Pas stood to lose out to Barisan Nasional if Pas insisted on contesting on its own in the next general election.

“This has always been Pas’ goal. It has never been about race or religion; it is to weaken the Malays,” he said on his blog on Tuesday.

Dr Mahathir, who is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) chairman, said Pas and Pakatan would still suffer at the polls even if there was a Pas-Umno electoral pact.

He said the Pas ulama worked hard to legitimise its cooperation with DAP when the two parties were in then Barisan Alternatif, an opposition pact which also included PKR, to face the 1999 election.

He said Pas then formed a tahaluf siyasi with DAP for the 1999 election.

“Tahaluf siyasi means political cooperation in English. The Quranic text does not determine whether or not the cooperation is legitimate.

“Pas’ use of the Arabic language was merely to show that the cooperation with DAP was allowed by Islam.”

However, Dr Mahathir said when Pas was in BN in the 1974 election, it cooperated with Umno and other BN component parties.

“Pas had performed poorly in the past elections when it contested alone, but did better when it had allies,” he said.

For example, he said, in the first election after Merdeka in 1959, Pas only won 13 parliamentary seats out of the 104 it contested.

“It managed to win in Kelantan and Terengganu though,” he said.

After that, he said Pas was faced with an internal conflict that led to the collapse of the Terengganu government, which was later governed by the Alliance, a precursor to BN.

“Pas failed to do well in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 elections and its performance deteriorated.”

Dr Mahathir said Pas then partnered with the now defunct Parti Melayu Semangat 46, and won seven parliamentary seats in each of the 1990 and 1995 elections.

“But the reality is that when Pas cooperated with DAP in Barisan Alternatif, Pas’ victory increased to 27 in 1999.

“In 2004, when DAP pulled out from Barisan Alternatif, Pas was left with only seven seats,” he said, adding that Pas won 23 and 21 parliamentary seats in 2008 and 2013, respectively.

Based on this track record, Dr Mahathir said it was likely that Pas would not change its stand to be on its own in the next election.

“Pas may look like it is contesting against Umno, but it is actually handing a victory to Umno,” he said.

Pas had performed poorly in past elections when it contested alone, but did better when it had allies.