INTERVIEW PAS leader Khalid Samad took a swipe at party conservatives who claim that the Islamic party saw an erosion of its core Malay-Muslim support because of its membership in the three-party Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

"We have never had (monopoly on) Malay support - how can you say we are losing Malay support? You cannot compare (today with) the 2008 GE and 2013 GE...,” said Khalid, who is Shah Alam member of parliament.

"In 2008, Umno was half asleep and quite complacent but in 2013, they were fully prepared for the onslaught from PR (Pakatan). Because of that, they managed to regain 1 or 2 percent of Malay votes...