Pas Big Win In Ge15 Due To Racist Rhetoric Lavish Dinners Says Rafizi

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Rafizi Ramli said he expects PAS to return to its ‘Milo tin’ donation drives again as no money-driven political campaign was sustainable in the long-run. (Bernama pic)SUNGAI PETANI: PAS achieved their biggest-ever victory in the general election (GE15) because of its racist rhetoric and by hosting lavish dinners, says PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli.
He said money politics and the oft-repeated rhetoric that “the non-Malays will take over the country”, were the main reasons for the Islamic party’s big win in GE15, not the influence of TikTok videos.
Perikatan Nasional (PN) took 74 seats in GE15, with PAS winning 49, the highest number of seats by any single party in the polls. In comparison, DAP won 40, PKR (31), Umno (26) and Bersatu (25).
In a talk to Kedah and Penang PKR members here last night, Rafizi said PAS had benefited financially when they were in government, and they used some of that money to host lavish dinners every other day.
“It is the money factor, not TikTok. In my hometown in Terengganu, I’ve heard stories of people asking for money everywhere they went. There was also kenduri everywhere. These are the factors that influenced PN’s win,” he said.
Rafizi said he expects PAS to return to its “Milo tin” donation drives in political events again as no money-driven political campaign was sustainable in the long-run.
He said the tactics used by PAS and PN resulted in a 70-80% swing among Malay voters in Kedah, which was unlike any other election before.
“PN fired up racial extremism to cause a swing that huge. This worries me more. The Malay voting pattern used to be balanced. Last time, the margins were narrow. For the first time, it is this wide. We need to beat this dangerous trend,” he said.
“We don’t have a silver bullet or magic pill to win. Some of us have to admit it is because of our weaknesses,” he said in his assessment of how PKR did in Kedah. He said in the past four to five years, the party had become less aggressive.
Rafizi also downplayed the Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Md Nor factor in PN’s big win in GE15, having won all but one of the 15 parliamentary seats in the state.
Sanusi had recently claimed that PN could win 33 out of the 36 seats in the upcoming state elections that are to be held this year.
Rafizi said despite PKR doing poorly in the Johor state polls, the party got to the ground working, winning the Segamat, Sekijang and Ledang parliamentary seats there.
“In six months, we managed to swing those voters in Johor back to us,” he said.
He also said that in Kedah and Penang, there were stubborn factions in Pakatan Harapan who refused to follow data-backed formulas to help the party in GE15, adding that such obstacles need to be overcome.
According to Rafizi, in Kedah there are five state seats won by PKR in the 2018 general election (GE14) at risk in the upcoming state polls, namely Sidam, Bakar Arang, Bukit Selambau, Kulim and Lunas.
Touching on the loss by PKR at its traditional stronghold in Penang, Permatang Pauh, which was held by the Anwar Ibrahim family for decades, Rafizi said PAS won by a “narrow majority”.
In GE15, PAS won a four-cornered fight for Permatang Pauh with a 5,272 majority, having garnered 37,638 votes against Pakatan Harapan-PKR’s 32,366 and Barisan Nasional’s 16,971. The candidate from Pejuang only took 473 votes.
“This tsunami will not last. Sentiments, like the tsunami, would recede after some time. The question now is, how fast would it recede?” - FMT

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