We lost by-election due to PAS working with 'kafir' party - Dr M
Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad has attributed BN's Cameron Highlands by-election victory to the cooperation between former rivals PAS and Umno.
Speaking to reporters after chairing the Harapan presidential council meeting in Putrajaya today, Mahathir took a jab at both parties by recalling how PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had referred to Umno as "parti kafir" (infidel party) in the 1980s.
Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad has attributed BN's Cameron Highlands by-election victory to the cooperation between former rivals PAS and Umno.
Speaking to reporters after chairing the Harapan presidential council meeting in Putrajaya today, Mahathir took a jab at both parties by recalling how PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had referred to Umno as "parti kafir" (infidel party) in the 1980s.
"We started the meeting with discussions about the Cameron Highlands by-election and the (upcoming) Semenyih by-election.
"The reason behind their victory, we believe, was because of the coalition between the parti Islam (PAS) and parti kafir Umno," he said.
Mahathir quickly added that the "infidel" label didn't come from him as it was a term which PAS once used.
"I did not say that. That is what PAS had said (before) that Umno is kafir," he said.
BN's Ramli Mohd Nor won by the Cameron Highlands by-election with 56.06 percent of the vote share, while Harapan's M Manogaran secured 40.77 percent of the vote.
PAS did not participate in the by-election and instead opted to campaign for the BN candidate. Polling data suggested that most of the Cameron Highlands voters who voted for PAS in 2018 backed BN this time around.
On a more serious note, Mahathir said Harapan was anticipating Umno and PAS to continue cooperating for the March 2 by-election, but he was confident that Harapan will win this time around.
"We believe that we can win in Semenyih, unless Umno and PAS do something extraordinary".
The by-election will most likely see candidates from Umno, representing BN and Bersatu, representing Harapan.
Thed Semenyih state assembly seat was won by Bersatu's Bakhtiar Mohd Nor during the 14th general election. The seat was declared vacant following his death on Jan 11.
In expressing Harapan's confidence for Semenyih, Mahathir said the coalition, however, was aware that it won the seat with a small majority.
"Harapan won (the seat) in GE14 not with an 8,000 vote majority but only by about 1,000. So we are aware that we only had a slim majority then and we have laid out a plan to overcome this," he said.
He added that Harapan won the Semenyih seat because of voter dissatisfaction with BN though now voters have shifted their attention to all the successes achieved by Harapan since they took over Putrajaya.
The ruling coalition, he said, would go into the by-election telling voters of these successes as well as their future plans.
'Harapan still commands Malay support'
Meanwhile, Mahathir dismissed a recent survey which claimed that nearly 60 percent of Malays surveyed were not happy with the performance of the Harapan government.
Saying that many Malays still supported Harapan, he said the survey was only an assessment by the opposition and "part of their campaign to denigrate us".
The survey conducted by jointly by pollster Ilham Centre and think-tank Penang Institute claimed that 54.4 percent of Malay respondents did not believe that the government was serious about the “Malay agenda”.
It also said that more than 60 percent of the 2,614 Malay respondents believed that non-Muslims were now in control of the government and DAP was calling the shots in Putrajaya.
"I have talked to many Malays, but this is an assessment by opposition parties as part of their campaign to denigrate us. Not 60 percent. There is a small percentage, yes, but not 60 percent," said the prime minister.
Mahathir's dismissal of the survey, however, was not in line with that of his deputy Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who earlier today said that the government should take note of the findings.
She told reporters the government must "listen to the woes and opinions of the rakyat, and take steps to see if (their perception) is real or imagined".
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