BN confident of clean sweep in Perlis
Barisan Nasional today expressed confidence of winning the three state seats in Perlis which were lost to PAS in the last general election.
Perlis Umno information chief Abu Bakar Ismail said the ruling coalition will face the coming election in a more stable political environment.
"We can no longer compare the political situation now to that of 1999. The opposition benefitted from the deep split within Umno then, to win those seats," he told malaysiakini when contacted.
The sacking and subsequent jailing of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy and abuse of power prior to the election caused a fissure in the party.
The opposition, especially PAS, which had formed an alliance to contest against the ruling front made strong inroads into several states, including Kedah Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's home state.
Apart from retaining control of Kelantan which they won in the previous election PAS had also captured neighbouring Terengganu in the1999 polls.
In Perlis, the opposition party won the Sanglang, Santan and Guar Sanji seats with a majority of 333 votes, 269 votes and 603 votes respectively.
BN retained the remaining 12 seats, eight with a reduced majority of below 1,000 votes, including the Tambun Tulang constituency held by Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim.
Barisan Nasional today expressed confidence of winning the three state seats in Perlis which were lost to PAS in the last general election.
Perlis Umno information chief Abu Bakar Ismail said the ruling coalition will face the coming election in a more stable political environment.
"We can no longer compare the political situation now to that of 1999. The opposition benefitted from the deep split within Umno then, to win those seats," he told malaysiakini when contacted.
The sacking and subsequent jailing of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy and abuse of power prior to the election caused a fissure in the party.
The opposition, especially PAS, which had formed an alliance to contest against the ruling front made strong inroads into several states, including Kedah Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's home state.
Apart from retaining control of Kelantan which they won in the previous election PAS had also captured neighbouring Terengganu in the1999 polls.
In Perlis, the opposition party won the Sanglang, Santan and Guar Sanji seats with a majority of 333 votes, 269 votes and 603 votes respectively.
BN retained the remaining 12 seats, eight with a reduced majority of below 1,000 votes, including the Tambun Tulang constituency held by Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim.
The constituencies are Indera Kayangan (1,974), Pauh (1,663), Kuala Perlis (1,320), Chuping (1,260), Titi Tinggi (1,112), Tambun Tulang (877), Beseri (819), Mata Ayer (664), Sena (544), Bintong (306), Kayang (331) and Simpang Empat (248)
Mistakes realised
However, Abu Bakar reiterated that things were different now as the political climate in the country had changed.
"Time has passed and even the young Malays have realised their past mistakes and returned to Umno's fold," he said.
The Umno leader added even the religious schools issue had not affected the party's strength and influence in Perlis.
The government recently said students in religious schools will be absorbed into national schools as the former was accused of instilling anti-government sentiments. Most religious schools in the country are run by PAS.
Abu Bakar said the opposition party cannot deny the fact that it was using these schools to garner support and propagate its propaganda.
"How can PAS say otherwise when everybody can see the party's flags at religious schools" he stressed.
Apart from Perlis, Abu Bakar said Umno had also regained its strength in Kelantan and Terengganu.
"My reading is that Umno would recapture Terengganu from PAS and the party would at least win half of the 43 seats in Kelantan," he added.
