Although Parti Amanah Negara is still new in the country’s political landscape, its party president Mohamad Sabu confidently said it is not a very tough job to attract supporters from Umno and PAS.

He explained that PAS is quite strong and can win some seats on its own, but facts remain that political parties in Malaysia need to contest in pact in order to win elections.

Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, added that Malaysians will vote political parties that can form government, which is either BN or Pakatan Harapan.

However, he admitted that Amanah’s allies have some doubts whether they can overcome PAS' influence in rural Malay areas in order to win more votes for Pakatan.

“PAS is influential in Kelantan and Terengganu. Therefore some in the allies think if we exclude PAS, then Pakatan will not be able get majority votes. But I do not agree,” Mat Sabu told Sin Chew Daily in an interview.

He said Amanah must seize the opportunity when Umno and PAS are in “trouble” to win support.

“Not hard but need time, especially now when Umno supporters are disappointed with its leader. Even Malay nationalists like Mahathir (Mohamad) and Sanusi Junid, as well as Rafidah Aziz, are also criticising Umno and the current leaders.”

Time to penetrate rural areas

Mat Sabu revealed that Amanah will base its support in southern peninsular, then move towards the north.

He is confident with the help of Pakatan Harapan, they will take over Johor in the next general elections.

Amanah currently has 50,000 members, and expected to reach 100,000 membership by December.

Mat Sabu said the party will have road shows all over the country by year end, but they may need some time to penetrate the rural areas.

“Rural voters still believe, when Umno lose, Chinese will take over power. Politics is emotional, so we need to talk to them personally.”

However, he said the needs of Chinese voters are different from the Malays, where the Chinese will look for a stable opposition pact in order to change the BN government, not a party that is not able to rule on its own.

“For Chinese, most important is the economy, followed by security. Alternative government must provide them these.”

Mat Sabu said even DAP will not get the general Chinese support on its own, while the best ever result by PAS in the last general elections was due to Pakatan Rakyat.

Citing Selangor as example, he said PAS lost in most of the areas before the formation of Pakatan Rakyat and only won in Malay majority seats like Tanjung Karang and Sabak Bernam.

“Halimah Ali who contested Selat Klang state seat, was behind in all Malay streams, but won the seat finally due to Chinese votes. If abandoned by Chinese, she would not be able to win. Can you imagine if PAS is alone? They will back to the situation in 1980s,” Mat Sabu said.