PAS no longer wants to give up constituencies it believes it can win to other parties in upcoming elections.
PAS election director Sanusi Nor said the party would identify seats where it has strong potential to secure victory and contest them itself.
“We will determine which seats are suitable and can be won by PAS. We should no longer give up those seats to anyone,” he said in his winding-up speech at the 72nd PAS muktamar at the Pusat Tarbiah Islamiah Kelantan here today.
Sanusi said PAS should not continue in a situation where its members do the groundwork for another party, only for that party to eventually field the candidate.
PAS urged to be more assertive
He said PAS had for too long faced a situation where its strength and support were not fully translated into political control.
“Our people go over and help them, and we’re happy. Then their party grows while ours remains small. They get to field the candidate, while we become their election machinery. That’s madness. Let’s speak frankly,” he said.
Sanusi said PAS needed to stop feeling inferior when negotiating with other parties, reminding members that the party had a long political history and considerable strength.
“PAS has become an ‘elephant’ of a party. Then suddenly a cat comes along with two or three kittens, and PAS gets scared,” he said, without naming any party.
“Don’t follow that cat. They’re only just starting out. They formed their party two days ago, then came and invited us to join them. And we follow them. That’s not right,” he said.
Yesterday, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said in his policy speech that the party wanted to defend all state and parliamentary seats it had won in previous elections.
He also said the Perikatan Nasional-led states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis, collectively known as SG4, should be retained.
Hadi urged the party to set its sights on Pahang, Perak and Selangor, and to “strengthen PAS and PN’s parliamentary representation” in those states while improving its performance in Melaka, which is expected to hold its state election soon.
PAS told to strengthen Johor presence
Sanusi also criticised PAS in Johor for failing to increase its membership despite the party’s desire to contest elections there.
“I thought our membership in Johor had grown. But you’re still doing the same amount of work. The election machinery hasn’t grown either. You can’t remain at the same level and expect to get seats,” he said.
He urged PAS to step up efforts to attract new members and establish more branches in the state.
