The DAP has warned against taking the Chinese votes in Permatang Pauh for granted, reminding its allies that BN will go all out to “play the hudud scare” to frighten the community.

DAP’s Permatang Pauh election coordinator Steven Sim ( left ) said Chinese support for Pakatan in the 2013 national polls was rather strong, at 22.9 percent, while Malay support was at 70.4 percent, Indian 6.3 percent, and others, 0.4 percent.

“But we cannot take this for granted especially if the BN is going all out to play the hudud scare,” Sim said when met in Bukit Mertajam last night, after the launch of the DAP Socialist Youth polls machinery at his service centre.

By ‘hudud scare’, Sim was referring to PAS’ insistence on tabling a private member’s bill to amend the syariah criminal code in Parliament, where debate has been deferred to the next sitting.

This led to DAP severing ties with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang. PKR, too, has decided not to support the bill as it was not discussed in the Pakatan leadership council.

Gerakan and MCA have strongly criticised DAP for betraying the trust of the Chinese, although their ally, Umno - the dominant party in BN - has fully backed PAS’ implementation of the Islamic law in Kelantan.

But the hudud issue is not Pakatan’s only headache in this by-election, where nomination day is fixed for this Saturday, polling on May 7, and early voting on May 3.

Sim described the coming polls as a contest between “the GST and economic issues versus racial and religious politics”.

GST is the acronym for the burdensome six percent goods and services tax imposed on all Malaysians by the federal government on April 1.

He warned that Umno would try to divert public attention from the GST and exploit racial and religious sentiments among the voters instead.

“BN would capitalise on incidents as such as the recent protest involving 50 who forced a church in Petaling Jaya to remove its cross,” the Bukit Mertajam MP explained.

“The GST has already happened but the hudud, not yet. I believe people would know how to judge the matter,” he said.

Odds not in Pakatan’s favour

Meanwhile, the factor of time, and the polling date being a working day, are deemed as unfavourable to Pakatan as this may deprive almost 6,000 voters from returning to Permatang Pauh to vote, said Sim.

He predicted a lower voter turn-out this time compared to GE13, where the rate was 88 percent.

This is one of the factors said to have contributed to PKR’s 11,721 majority win against Umno in 2013.

“If the 6,000 outside voters do not come home to vote, we may be left with only a 5,000 majority,” Sim said.

“It gets worse if other factors like the hudud scare, religious and racial sentiments, and the schism between the allies in Pakatan affect the voters, even though Umno is facing its worst split ever,” he added.

“Given the current situation, Pakatan is definitely the underdog even though we are the incumbents,” he observed.

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has held the seat since 1982 when he was in Umno, but lost it when his family failed to obtain a pardon from the Agong for his early release from Sungai Buloh prison where he is serving a five-year jail term for sodomy.

Sim also described the coming battle in Permatang Pauh  as a battle to win hearts and minds of young people, as 20 percent of the voters are below 40.

“We will go all out to explain that main issue affecting all our lives is the GST. It is  eating into the lives of the people here, especially in a small town like Permatang Pauh,” he said.

“We are going all out to remind them that this race is not about race and religion, but economics and good governance,” he added.

Pawns in Umno’s game

On Gerakan and MCA’s “moderation” theme in this by-election, where the two BN allies have started campaigning on the ground to woo Chinese voters, Sim shot back, “But they are not moderate”.

He said both parties had lost their credibility because of their continuous relationship with Umno.

He added that the traditional voters of both parties have rejected them continuously in 2008 and 2013 because of their links with Umno.

Gerakan and MCA have no seats - parliament or state assembly - in Penang, while Umno has 10 state and three parliamentary seats.

“They refuse to step down because of their (minister) positions and wealth. They continue to play to the tune of Umno’s racism,” said Sim.

“In the Chinese areas, they talk about moderation, in the Malay areas, they allow Umno to continue to stoke up racial sentiments against non-Malays,” he added.

“They are merely pawns in Umno racist games, and the people see through that,” he asserted.