PAS deputy presidential candidate and Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said he will strive to make sure that Malay support returns to the party if he wins the post, as this will ensure Pakatan Rakyat captures Putrajaya in the next general election.

NONE Mohd Amar, who is better known as Nik Amar, is going against incumbent and popular orator Mohamad Sabu. His entry in the battle, he said, was to add diversity in the party.

"However, most important of all, if I win I will help the party to regain the Malay votes that were lost in the last general election, where we only won 21 parliamentary seats compared with 23 in 2008.

"There is a decline in Malay support, but the non-Muslim support for PAS has increased," he noted.

"PAS traditionally contests in Malay areas, compared with the DAP in Chinese majority areas and PKR in mixed constituencies.

"In the last general election, PAS contested in 60 seats. Hence, for PAS, we must be concerned about the Malay voters as we are involved in straight fights with Umno. If we win 40 seats, then we will be in Putrajaya," Mohd Amar said.

Non-Muslims are now backing PAS

He said Pakatan was short of just a few seats. The BN has 133 seats in Parliament, compared with the 89 in the hands of Pakatan.

"Hence, the focus for PAS is to get back the Malay votes for the party in order for the party to replace Umno. That is the focus for the party after this muktamar," Mohd Amar said.

The Kelantan deputy menteri besar described PAS participation in Pakatan as not a weakness for the party as it had managed to smash the perception barrier, especially among the non-Muslims, who were now throwing their support to the party.

NONE He said the non-Muslims were now brave to come forward and voice their support for PAS and even vote for the party. This was a big success for the party, a success of the dakwah (propagation) and politics within the party.

"The problem is with the Malays. If we manage to get the non-Muslims to retain their support for PAS and we win back the Malay votes, then we will be much more stronger. I see it from that point of view," he said.

Mohd Amar rates he has an equal chance to win against Mat Sabu. A total of 1,129 delegates had this evening cast their votes for the deputy presidency and the three vice-presidents.