Perak PKR is turning its attention on the rural Malay population seen as the deciding factor in ensuring a victory for Pakatan in capturing the state government in the forth coming state election.

Newly appointed party state chief Mustaffa Kamil Ayub told Malaysiakini recently that the rural areas have been the main factors in the BN's ability to hold on to power at the federal level.

"They (BN) have been able to maintain their political hold on the rural Malays through their propaganda machinery of print and the electronic media.

Pakatan had not been able to penetrate this stronghold effectively as we do not have the support of the main media who are mainly pro-BN," said Mustaffa.

"However, by concentrating on influencing this potential voter-bank could pay dividends."

He admitted that PKR will find it hard trying to influence the older generation but our main target is growing youth population with more open minds and have a broader picture of current Malaysian politics, he said.

The state party hopes to tap into this potential by getting them to register as voters to break the BN's hold on the Malay rural population.

How rural folk are deceived

PKR hopes to educate the rural Malay population on the growing economic divide between the haves and have-nots in Umno politics which favour its cronies rather than the former.

"The Malay rural population has been given tit-bits at every election but forgotten about it once BN wins the seat.

"As a result the majority of the Malay rural population is living in poverty without the basic amenities of proper housing, electricity supply and piped water," said Mustaffa who is also party national vice-president and chairman of the International Bureau.

"We have to educate them to be far-sighted and to fight for their basic rights as citizens of the country and not fall into the trap of BN election goodies which are short-term measures to brain wash the community into a false sense of security," he emphasized.

He was speaking after officiating at the opening ceremony of the new state PKR headquarters in Ipoh on Tuesday.

On the question of some party members falling for the antics of BN and cross-over for personal gain, Mustaffa admitted such weaknesses in the party with the solution being the introduction of a stringent vetting system when admitting members and picking candidates for elections.

Vital importance of communications

PKR is seen by BN as the weakest link in the three party coalition of Pakatan Rakyat and has enticed some members over.

perak exco aca arrest 200808 mohd osman mohd jailu The most decisive cross-overs to date is that of PKR assemblypersons Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang) and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (middle, right) (Changkat Jering) which saw the collapse of Pakatan's 10-month rule of Perak leading to the BN takeover in February.

Mustaffa believes the answer to such problems lies in effective communications between leaders and party members to ensure its unity as well as timely and successful intervention in any discord that may arise among them.

As to speculation that both Jamaluddin and Osman are unhappy with BN for not meeting their high expectations and are considering returning , his reply was "once bitten! twice shy!".

"We have to be very careful in such cases as there is uncertainty and suspicion about their political intentions which seem personal and not party oriented," he said.