If the just concluded Ayer Kuning by-election is any indicator, the next 16th General Election could see Perikatan Nasional, comprising Bersatu (Malaysian United Indigenous Party) and PAS (Malaysian Islamic Party), to remain as the Opposition. Of course, that provided the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Democratic Action Party (DAP) continue to work together.
As expected, UMNO-led Barisan Nasional candidate had easily defended the state seat, securing a larger majority of 5,006 votes compared to a majority of 2,213 votes in the 15th General Election in November 2022. That’s because now Barisan Nasional and enemy-turn-ally Pakatan Harapan coalitions are working together. Even when both were rivals, UMNO had managed to win on its own.
Despite low voter turnout of about 58%, Barisan Nasional captured a total of 11,065 votes on Saturday compared to 9,088 votes in 2022. It doesn’t matter that Perikatan Nasional’s performance has improved by 4.2% (6,059 votes compared to 6,812 votes in 2022). The opposition is still no match against the combined forces of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan, which improved by 21.97%.
The Maths is simple – the PAS extremists could only capture about one-third or 30% of the votes in the constituency, even though it is a Malay-majority seat (55.64%). The radical Islamist party has no chance regardless whether the turnout is 58% or 74%. To win, PAS must capture almost 100% Malay votes because Chinese or Indian voters would avoid it like a plague.
In other words, Pakatan Harapan had succeeded in transferring almost all its 30% vote banks (won in 2022) to Barisan Nasional – boosting its share from 38.73% (2022) to 60.70% in this by-election. And because Ayer Kuning has 22% Chinese and 14% Indian voters, it’s also safe to say almost all the non-Muslim voters had voted for the UMNO candidate (even if they didn’t vote, they stayed at home).
In short, without DAP, a party preferred by 95% Chinese voters, both racist bigot Bersatu and religious extremist PAS can only fantasize about winning seats with such ethnic breakdown. The hilarious part is Perikatan Nasional still hasn’t learned that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It still plays racial and religious cards till today.
Yes, PAS lost Ayer Kuning (not that it could win in the first place) largely because it refused and unable to reach out to Chinese and Indian voters, which in turn was due to its failure to understand simple maths. It was already bad that the minority ethnics has a deep distrust for both PAS and Bersatu. It became worse when PAS relentlessly attacked Chinese pig farming to win over Malay voters.
Did PAS not realize that its Malay support in Ayer Kuning had already saturated? When it could only win 30% of the Malay votes during its peak, what were the chances that 100% of Malays (55% of total electorate) would vote for it this time? UMNO won big not only because it has DAP, but also because PAS was stubborn, arrogant and stupid (which is good news).
In fact, PAS extremists were so arrogant and ignorant that it has even interfered in neighbouring Singapore’s upcoming general election on May 3, 2025. As the largest single party with 43 seats in the 222-seat parliament, the Islamist party thought it was untouchable, powerful and invincible to the extent it tries to instigate Singapore Malays to vote along racial and religious lines.
Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry has revealed PAS treasurer-general Iskandar Abdul Samad and Selangor PAS Youth Chief Mohamed Sukri Omar as the two politicians involved in the interference. They had published Facebook posts titled, “Singapore GE: Malay Candidates Increasingly Prominent” and “Don’t Repeat the Scenario of Malays Being ‘Removed’ from the City.
Through its propaganda media, Harakah Daily, PAS deliberately instigated Workers’ Party (WP) candidates of Malay ethnicity like Faisal Manap, Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar, Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik, and Sufyan Mikhail Putra, as well as Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Damanhuri Abas to challenge the Singapore government under the false perception that Singapore Malays have been mistreated.
Trying to spread hatred, Selangor PAS Youth Chief Sukri has linked Malaysia’s Democratic Action Party (DAP) to Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP). If indeed it’s true that Singapore Malays had been discriminated and suppressed as claimed, they are more than welcomed to “migrate to Malaysia”. After all, Johor is mere 1-kilometre away from Singapore Causeway.
Hilariously, Singapore Malays would rather migrate to “kafir land” Australia than to “Tanah Melayu” Malaysia, let alone go back to Indonesia. Not only the minority Malays in the small island receives a higher quality education, they are also much wealthier than fellow Malays in Malaysia. In 2024, Singapore’s GDP per capita was estimated at US$93,956, while Malaysia’s was only around US$14,423, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The fact that the Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has also condemned foreign interference to influence the republic’s election speaks volumes about the dangerous promotion of racism and extremism – which could lead to violence and even terrorism. It didn’t help that Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been weak in curbing social tensions induced by radicalized PAS-Muslims.
However, Singapore government has to bear some responsibilities. Trying to appease – even sucking up – the Islamist party, the republic had sent ministers to visit PAS-ruling states like Kelantan and Terengganu. Under the pretext of boosting connectivity and interaction with more Malaysian states, Second Foreign Affairs Minister Maliki Osman was sent to rub shoulders with PAS leaders.
In truth, the visits to Kelantan and Terengganu were part of Singapore’s effort to hedge against the possibility of PAS forming a federal government in the future. While such strategy seemed normal, it has emboldened – even misinterpreted – by PAS as a sign of Singapore’s recognition that it is Government-in-Waiting. Worse, PAS leaders saw it as an opportunity to take one step further to interfere in Singapore’s politics.
It was the same way “Sillypore” quickly sent Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan to meet with crooked Najib Razak in May 2022 after traitor Muhyiddin Yassin betrayed his own Pakatan Harapan government and formed a backdoor regime with UMNO and PAS. Then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had wrongly bet that Najib, despite having stolen billions of dollars in the 1MDB scandal, would return to power.
Even though Singapore government had ordered Meta to block those posts, citing risks to racial and religious harmony, the damage has already been done. PAS could easily spin the criticism as a moral victory, self-proclaiming the Islamist party as the defender of Malay-Muslim interests. Domestically, PAS’ interference could be twisted as a huge courage to challenge Singapore Chinese.
Like it or not, Singapore is paying the price for being weak in facing external extremism, especially from Malaysia. It’s the same like PM Anwar, who, like a broken record, keeps spewing empty rhetoric – whining, moaning and bitching – whenever PAS unleashes racial and religious hatred against non-Muslims. Failure to take legal actions on PAS leaders encourages them to repetitively cross the red lines.
In fact, PAS is so power-hungry that its president, Abdul Hadi Awang, has claimed that winning elections is more important than performing the umrah or Haj. Having enjoyed power during its short stint as part of Muhyiddin and Sabri backdoor regime (2022-2024), the Islamist party is ready to do anything just to grab power, including destabilizing Malaysia or Singapore governments.
Therefore, instead of emulating Anwar Ibrahim’s cowardice, the Singapore PM should express his displeasure through action and not merely criticism like an empty vessel. At the very least, the two PAS troublemakers should be banned from entry into the island, just like how controversial preacher Ridhuan Tee Abdullah was treated like a terrorist previously by the Singapore immigration officials in 2016.
By blacklisting and designating the PAS extremists as a national security threat, it will send a message that there is a price to be paid for interfering in the internal affairs of Singapore. Crucially, it would alert other governments in the world about the identity of the potential sponsor of radical Islamic terrorism. Make no mistake – PAS only understands the language of strength.
PAS leaders dare to walk over PM Anwar to the extent of spreading fake news due to the premier’s weak leadership. The Islamist party knew the spineless Anwar can’t do anything when facing Islamist extremism. The burning question is whether PM Lawrence has the balls to do something as simple as imposing sanctions and visa restrictions against PAS leaders.
Source : Finance Twitter
The Coverage Malaysia
