Wednesday, 17 May 2017 | MYT 11:36 AM
PAS has handed victory to BN, says Dr M
PETALING JAYA: PAS' decision to distance itself from the Opposition will only reduce Malay votes and eventually hand victory to Barisan Nasional, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic).
"Whether or not PAS will cooperate with Umno, PAS' participation in the general election still reduces the support towards Pakatan Harapan and PAS itself.
"Pakatan and PAS will lose and Barisan will win. This is actually PAS' goal. It is not for race or religion. It only aims to weaken the Malays," said the former prime minister in a blog post on Tuesday.
Dr Mahathir, who is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman, said history has shown that PAS performs poorly in elections when it goes alone but does better when it has strong allies.
He said in the 1959 general election, the first after Independence, PAS only won 13 Parliamentary seats out of 104 contested, but managed to wrest Kelantan and Terengganu.
However, the victory was short-lived as the PAS government in Terengganu collapsed due to an internal conflict and was taken over by the then ruling coalition, Alliance.
"And PAS performed poorly in the 1964 and 1969 general elections as it only won nine seats and 12 seats respectively.
"After the 1969 racial riots, PAS joined Barisan and won 14 seats," said Dr Mahathir, adding that PAS left the ruling coalition after another internal conflict.
The Islamist party failed to do well in three consecutive general elections, said Dr Mahathir.
"In 1978, 1982 and 1986, there was a drop in performance. It only won five seats in 1978, five in 1982 and only one in 1986," he said.
PAS then forged a cooperation with Semangat 46, an Umno breakaway party formed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
"PAS won seven seats in 1990 and 1995 respectively," he said.
The party, he said, did significantly better when it worked with DAP and PKR in 1999 to form Barisan Alternatif, winning 27 seats.
"In 2004, when DAP pulled out from Barisan Alternatif, PAS only won seven seats," said Dr Mahathir, adding that PAS did better when Pakatan Rakyat was formed in 2008 with the inclusion of DAP.
"In 2008, PAS won 23 seats and 21 seats in 2013," he said, adding that this clearly showed that PAS performed poorly when it decided to go solo.
"This is all based on facts and official record," he said.
Pakatan Rakyat was declared dead by DAP in 2015 following a fallout with PAS over its Islamic agenda.
The Islamist party was not included in Pakatan Harapan, which was formed by PKR and DAP and its breakaway party, Parti Amanah Negara, later that same year.
Newcomers Pribumi had suggested that PAS be included in seat negotiations for the next general election to avoid multiple cornered fights.
However, PAS said that it would never work with DAP and Amanah, but maintained a political cooperation with PKR.
It eventually cut ties with PKR last week, claiming that the party had failed to support its Islamic agenda.
