The two strong BN states of Sabah and Sarawak may just fall into the hands of the Pakatan Rakyat alliance in the next general elections if Umno continues to play on religious sentiments over the usage of the word 'Allah'.

ngeh koo ham DAP Perak state chief Ngeh Koo Ham (right ) said the Pakatan had managed to make some inroads only into the urban voter bank in those states in the last elections but not the rural population.

But with Umno's view that only Muslims can use the word 'Allah', Ngeh is confident that this will result in a backlash in both the East Malaysian states with the majority of the Christian population switching to Pakatan in the next polls.

"Umno harping on racial sentiments will pave the way for Pakatan to take control of Putrajaya (the federal government) in the 13th general election," he said.

Ngeh added that it is wrong to penalise the Christian communities there over the usage of 'Allah' as they have been using the word even before joining Malaysia.

In his view the word 'Allah' should be allowed to be used by all but  there should be no abuse in its usage.

  Corruption eating into nation's prosperity

Ngeh was speaking on the topic 'Challenges for PR to Takeover the Government in the Next General Election' at a DAP political forum enitled 'The GST and other Taxing Political Issues' organised by party's Ipoh Barat branch at the Chin Woo Hall here last night.

lim kit siang 111204 About 1,000 people attended the function which saw seven DAP leaders, including party supremo Lim Kit Siang ( left ), Ipoh Barat MP Kulasegaran, Petaling Jaya MP Tony Pua and ousted PR state speaker V Sivakumar, who also addressed the crowd on various issues  of public interest.

Ngeh blamed the rampant corruption of the BN administration and the wastage of public funds as the main causes for the economic woes afflicting the nation.

In contrast, he pointed out that the Auditor-General's Report had named the four Pakatan states of Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor as having managed their public funds prudently in 2008 with Perak topping the rest with its 93.2 percent achievement, winning a four-star rating in the process.

"During our term of office, without raising any taxes, we had achieved a revenue of RM100 million which was 18 percent higher than the previous BN government's," he said.

He said if Pakatan captures Putrajaya in the next general elections, the prices of goods and services will not rise and all policies will be transparent with the emphasis on the human race to love and respect each other.

"So, Pakatan rule is the answer for all Malaysians not only in Perak but at the federal level too."

He then pleaded for a convincing victory in the next polls, otherwise a hung parliament might be the result like the situation they had faced in Perak with a slim majority which encouraged the BN to play money politics "to boot us out".