PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has dismissed claims that the party is responsible for weakening non-Malay support for Perikatan Nasional (PN), describing such views as inaccurate and unsupported by electoral evidence.
Speaking in Bangi on January 10, 2026, Tuan Ibrahim said the perception that PAS creates fear among non-Malay voters was largely shaped by external narratives rather than grounded analysis. He argued that results from several elections demonstrated that PN continued to secure backing across racial lines, indicating that the coalition’s appeal was broader than critics suggested.
According to him, PN’s victories in states such as Kedah, Perlis and Terengganu reflected sustained and even growing public support, including from non-Malay communities. He maintained that attributing PN’s challenges with non-Malay voters solely to PAS ignored historical realities, pointing out that other component parties had also struggled to attract such support even during periods when PAS did not play a leading role within the coalition.
Tuan Ibrahim stressed that the strength of PN lay in collective effort rather than individual party dominance. He said the coalition’s survival depended on its component parties working cohesively under a shared platform, warning that unilateral approaches would only weaken public confidence.
His remarks came amid leadership changes within PN following the resignation of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as coalition chairman. Subsequent discussions within political circles included concerns raised by certain leaders about whether non-Malay support could be sustained if PAS assumed a more prominent leadership role in PN.
Addressing these concerns, Tuan Ibrahim said every component party had a responsibility to strengthen its own outreach while contributing to the coalition’s shared objectives. He emphasised that PN should be evaluated based on governance performance and policy outcomes rather than assumptions about racial voting patterns.
He also responded to comments by former PAS leader Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki, who had suggested that PAS was not yet ready to lead PN or put forward a ‘poster boy’ for the 16th General Election. Tuan Ibrahim clarified that the remarks reflected personal opinion and did not represent the party’s official stance, noting that the individual was no longer part of PN’s leadership structure.
Highlighting PAS’ leadership diversity, he said the party was not solely composed of religious scholars but also included professionals, technocrats and administrators with expertise in economics and governance. He cited the administrations in Terengganu and Kedah as examples, pointing to the performance of their respective menteri besar as evidence that PAS-led governments were capable of effective and results-driven administration.
Tuan Ibrahim concluded that ongoing public support for PAS leadership showed no signs of erosion, reinforcing his view that claims linking PAS to declining non-Malay backing for PN were overstated and misleading.
Kamran (kfiverr21@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.