PAS vice president Idris Ahmad has hit out at Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for allegedly using outdated political rhetoric to belittle Kelantan, warning that voters are now fully aware and cannot be swayed by empty promises or last-minute development projects.
“Don’t assume Malaysians can still be bought with promises. They’ve long awakened, not just crawled out from a cave,” said Idris.
Zahid, while speaking in Tanah Merah recently, had remarked that Kelantan would fall further behind in development without federal allocations.
This comment, Idris noted, may offend not just Kelantanese voters but also UMNO’s own supporters.
“Maybe Zahid needs an updated map of Malaysia, to differentiate Kelantan from Kalimantan, or perhaps a refresher on the Federal Constitution,” Idris said, asserting that Kelantan is a legitimate state within the Malaysian Federation.
He added that Kelantanese, like other Malaysians, pay all forms of taxes, including road tax, income tax, business tax, and the Sales and Services Tax (SST), while the state only collects limited local taxes.
He also took jabs at Zahid’s past verbal gaffes, from exclaiming “Hidup Israel!” to the more recent “Even angels flee at night”, and his reversal from rejecting Anwar and DAP in 2021 to partnering with them after GE15.
“Kelantan is a sovereign state, not a colony of any party. Watch your words, or the people will teach you respect through the ballot box,” he warned.
