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KUALA LUMPUR – The short-sighted views of PAS and its allies have caused them to rely only on racial and religious sentiments to win elections rather than fielding able, credible candidates, said DAP’s Malay election candidates.
Responding to PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang’s “concern” that Malay candidates were being “used” by DAP to win Malay-Muslim votes, DAP’s election candidates said Malaysians no longer voted based on race and religion.
“Malay-Muslim voters are not going to pick their representatives based only on race and religion. They are going to select candidates who can serve them based on their performance records,” said the DAP candidates.
They said Hadi was in fact demeaning the intellect of Malay-Muslim voters by making such a statement.
“We thank the PAS president for giving DAP more publicity on its fielding of Malay candidates in the 15th general election (GE15). We understand that PAS and Perikatan Nasional are worried because DAP is fielding more Malay candidates with calibre and potential.
“The seats contested by the Malay candidates from DAP are not easy ones, and DAP has fielded their best candidates to help Pakatan Harapan win GE15 and appoint Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as our prime minister,” they said in a joint statement.
Yesterday, Hadi said that he was worried as many Malay candidates were being used by DAP, which he said was using the same tactic as the People’s Action Party in Singapore.
He claimed that Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who led PAP, used people like its first president Yusuf Ishak and other Malays, who can “read Jawi and wear the songkok”.
“Though DAP is not contesting against many candidates from PAS, the Islamic party feels DAP is their enemy.
“This could be because Hadi is concerned that the tide is shifting towards DAP and PH, and there is a possibility PAS will lose all its positions and power,” added the candidates.
The DAP candidates who signed the statement were Zulhazmi Shariff (Jerai), Syerleena Abdul Rashid (Bukit Bendera), Tarmizi Mohd Jam (Gerik), Young Syefura Othman (Bentong), Syahredzan Johan (Bangi), Sheikh Omar (Ayer Hitam), Fatin Zulaikha Zaidi (Mersing), Shazwan Zdainal (Pontian), Badrul Hisham Badarudin (Changkat Jong), and Khairil Khalid (Pulau Manis). – The Vibes, November 12, 2022