Malays Not Stupid To Believe Racist Anti Dap Attacks Says Hassan

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PH’s Hassan Karim (centre) during a walkabout in Pasir Gudang, Johior. (Facebook pic)PASIR GUDANG: Pakatan Harapan’s Hassan Karim, aiming to be the Pasir Gudang MP again, says he sympathises with his DAP colleagues being unfairly attacked by former allies now in Perikatan Nasional using the race and religion cards.
The 71-year-old lawyer, who became a giant killer in the 2018 general election, said these and the other allegations that DAP had a communist agenda and was anti-royalty were preposterous and an “old song” sung by PAS and its allies each time elections approached.
“Actually, I pity my friends in DAP. I have worked with them closely over the last decade and if it is indeed a communist party, why are they allowed to stand for elections? Let me tell you that Malays are not stupid to believe such propaganda anymore.
“They are discerning enough to know PAS and Bersatu (now in PN) have worked with DAP before for power. They also know that DAP leaders have signed documents together with other PH leaders recognising that Islam is the official religion of the country and respecting the constitutional rights of the royalty,” he said when met during his walkabout in his constituency.
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Hassan, a former state PKR chairman, defeated Khaled Nordin, then Johor menteri besar and state Umno chief, for the Pasir Gudang parliamentary seat in 2018 (GE14) with a majority of 24,726 votes, earning the giant killer tag.
“In Johor, GE14 saw PH making a clean sweep of the southern belt where we won the large seats Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang and Tebrau convincingly, defeating big names in the process,” he said.
The former Parti Rakyat Malaysia member joined PKR in 1999 during the “Reformasi” movement after Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as deputy prime minister.
For Saturday’s general election, Hassan said he had earlier told Anwar he wanted to make way for a younger candidate, to enable the party to choose from the many members vying to contest.
“However, Anwar felt that my experience was needed for the party and there was positive feedback from the grassroots on my performance. So I agreed to defend the seat this time,” he said,
On his chances, he said he would not underestimate his much younger opponents as it was harder to assess now that about 70,000 new voters were in the constituency.
“No one knows for sure how they will vote. The seat has about 51% Malay voters, 37% Chinese, 10% Indians and 2% others (mainly those from Sabah and Sarawak). I will be happy if I get 15% to 20% of the Malay votes as this can see me first past the post,” he said.
Besides being there for his constituents when he was MP, Hassan regarded humility as his strength and he was undaunted in facing much younger rivals.
“I am still using a seven-year-old secondhand car. My total assets amount to only about RM140,000,” he added.
Hassan is in a four-cornered fight against Barisan Nasional’s Noor Azleen Ambros, Mohamad Farid Abdul Razak (PN) and Mohammad Raffi Beran (Gerakan Tanah Air). - FMT

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