KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 ― DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng today challenged political foe PAS to explain how his party is able to influence the non-Muslim minorities in Kelantan, which has been ruled by the Islamist party for decades.
He also expressed disbelief that there is 10 per cent of non-Muslims left in the north-eastern peninsular state that still backs PAS if the DAP were said to have such strong clout.
“How can DAP influence non-Muslim voters in Kelantan, unless they can see for themselves how racist and extremist PAS is?
“What is surprising is that there are still 10 per cent of non-Muslims in Kelantan who still support PAS,” he said in a statement.
The Bagan MP noted that the figures were given by PAS vice-president Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah at the party’s 68th annual congress underway in Kedah.
Mohd Amar is also deputy Kelantan mentri besar and was reported to have alleged that nearly 90 per cent of Chinese in Kelantan had rejected PAS candidates because they were swayed by the DAP.
Lim said the current PAS leadership has changed much from when Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat was its spiritual adviser and Kelantan MB, adding that the latter was able to gain the support of 90 per cent of the non-Muslims.
He also chided the current PAS leaders for defending their president Tan Sri Hadi Awang’s assertion that non-Muslims and non-Bumiputera made up the most of the corrupt people in the country.
“Mohd Amar should therefore not be surprised that non-Muslims have such a negative view of PAS that they will not vote the Islamist party in Kelantan,” Lim said.
He claimed that this was why Kelantan is the poorest state in peninsular Malaysia.
“After more than 30 years of PAS rule, many Kelantanese who were deprived of economic opportunities migrate to other states and even Singapore to seek job opportunities,” he said.
Lim said PAS has become its own “worst enemy” by refusing to back down from its political narrative blaming the minorities for corruption in the country.
“Led by its president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS is not ashamed to prove themselves to be extremists and racists, but also failed to offer solutions for the country’s economic problems and corruption challenges,” he said.
Lim also pointed out that PAS practices poor crisis management in floods, bad governance and cannot even provide clean piped water.
“This is the frightening vision of Malaysia with PAS in government,” he added.
