Opposition crippled without PAS, says Salleh

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan’s aspiration to take over Putrajaya after the 14th general election (GE14) is dissipating without the support of PAS voters.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said the success of DAP and PKR in the 2008 and 2013 general elections was due to support from PAS.

“Without PAS voters, DAP and PKR are no longer strong and will not win. With 70% of PAS voters no longer voting for the opposition pact, they will be crippled,” he said yesterday in his blog sskeruak.blogspot.my.

PKR and Amanah cannot help the Opposition draw Malay voters as both parties do not have a strong political base and their pact remains flimsy, he added.

“The new Pakatan Harapan will not (win) the confidence of voters.”

Salleh added that DAP only won in the 2008 general election when it joined forces with PAS, getting 28 seats and PKR winning 31 while its collaboration with PAS in the 13th general election (GE13) saw it gaining 38 seats and PKR winning 30 seats.

“When DAP stood alone, the party’s achievement was not encouraging. In the 1969 general election when the Opposition won big, DAP only garnered 13 seats. In 1974, they won 9, 1978 (16), 1982 (9), 1986 (24), 1990 (20) and 1995 (9),” Salleh said.

He added that in GE13, 84.84% of the total 13,268,002 registered voters cast their votes, with Barisan Nasional (BN) gaining 5,237,699 votes, PAS (1,633,389), DAP (1,736,267), and the rest went to other parties.

“History has shown that PAS is core to the Opposition’s strength just like Umno is to BN. Today’s reality is that DAP is the core to Pakatan Harapan,” he said. – Bernama