Pas Says Sungai Bakap Voters Rejected Govt Mismanagement

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Perikatan Nasional candidate Abidin Ismail of PAS after he was elected the new state assemblyman for Sungai Bakap this evening. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: Two PAS leaders tonight hailed the opposition’s win in the Sungai Bakap by-election as an indictment of government policies and its failure in managing the economy.
Party president Abdul Hadi Awang said Perikatan Nasional’s victory was significant in an uneven playing field tainted by a “disabled democratic process and rampant political corruption”.
In the by-election held today, PN candidate Abidin Ismail of PAS was elected the new state assemblyman for Sungai Bakap, retaining the seat for the party with a larger majority. Abidin polled 14,489 votes for a 4,267-vote majority over his PH opponent, Joohari Ariffin of PKR, who obtained 10,222 votes.
Hadi said the result “is a signal by the people of their rejection of Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional’s failure in managing the economy and looking after the well-being of the people regardless of their age and race”.
PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said the voters had sent a clear signal to the unity government and the state government that they disagreed with its approaches and policies.
Fadhli said it was also a clear rejection of the recently implemented diesel subsidy scheme which had burdened many consumers.
He said PH had clearly failed to woo voters even though the Sungai Bakap seat is part of the Nibong Tebal parliamentary constituency, which is represented by a minister. The MP for Nibong Tebal is Fadhlina Sidek, who is education minister.
Fadhli said PN’s win was a message to the Penang government to be more fair when it came to carrying out projects and building infrastructure.
“Saying sorry for not being able to provide a clean supply of water is insufficient. The people want a guarantee and immediate action, which should not be a problem seeing that the state and federal governments are aligned,” he said.
Two days ago, PAS accused deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of “blatant bribery” after he said the government will construct two projects in Sungai Bakap if Pakatan Harapan wins the by-election. - FMT

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