Game-changing victory for PAS in Terengganu

By Joceline Tan

THE outcome of the Kemaman by-election was more than just a landslide victory for PAS.

It signalled that Terengganu is no longer a swing state and that it is on the way to becoming the next Kelantan, where PAS is invincible.

It also gave PAS the bragging rights that it now has a prime minister candidate in

an aerospace engineer who was a lecturer before he joined PAS and went on to become Terengganu Mentri Besar.

“Terengganu is indeed the ‘new Kelantan’. Umno could not produce its own candidate and had to source from outside. What kind of message do you think that sends to the rakyat?” said Terengganu political expert Dr Azmi Omar.

Samsuri, known by all as Dr Sam, beat the Barisan Nasional candidate with a majority of 37,220 votes which was around 10,000 votes more than that in the 2022 general election.

Barisan Nasional had what Umno politician Wan Hakim Wan Mokhtar called the “perfect candidate in Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, but the retired general could not stop the green wave.

The green wave is yet another signal from the by-election - the wave has not subsided, and if it gathers momentum, Pahang will be the next to fall.

And the fourth signal, according to Wan Hakim, is that elections are no longer about the candidate but the party.

“Tan Sri Affandi was a God-sent candidate, but Kemaman voters ignored his credentials and went for the party,” said Wan Hakim, who was roped in as the campaign manager for Affandi at the 11th hour,

He said that another issue that has refused to go away is that the Malay heartland still rejects the idea of working with DAP.

“They will not swallow it no matter how many times we tell them or how many sessions we have with them. DAP is still an issue in the Malay heartland,” he said.

But at the heart of this killer blow from the Kemaman election result is the issue of Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Malays, whether from the city or in the kampung, can see that Umno has not changed or reformed. They are unlikely to switch allegiance to Umno for as long as Ahmad Zahid is the Umno president.

It explains why Perikatan leaders do not attack Ahmad Zahid - they want him up there because they know he is good for them.

“Malays have yet to see any convincing reason why they should return to Umno, especially in Terengganu. The economy is hurting them, and they think Umno has compromised and is no longer the voice of the Malays,” said Azmi.

Fortunately, Ahmad Zahid could not campaign because he was recovering from surgery.

But sources said that another big name, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said, an Umno warlord in Kemaman and the former mentri besar, was also kept away from the candidate.

Ahmad has become a liability. A great deal of Umno’s troubles in Terengganu and the dearth of younger talent has to do with Ahmad’s refusal to let go and the way he took down rivals and those who stood in his way.

The by-election also backfired in the face for the unity government, which thought it was scoring points by bringing PAS to the election court after it won the seat in the general election.

They managed to prove that PAS indulged in money politics and broke the election law, but PAS is having the last laugh now.

Former journalist Rosli Zakaria, who lives in Kuala Terengganu, said Umno ought to be thankful that university student voters could not return to vote because of exams otherwise, Umno’s loss would be more crushing.

Both sides, he noted, had credible candidates, but Samsuri is a sitting Mentri Besar and a household name.

“He is different from other PAS politicians. He does not discriminate along party lines, and he has said that he will help all Terengganu people irrespective of their politics,” said Rosli.

Meanwhile, Samsuri, who is also PAS vice-president, has finally made it with the Kemaman win. He was often seen as clinging to the coattails of Tan Sri Hadi Awang, whom he served as political secretary for many years.

Two of Wan Hakim’s sons decided to check out PAS’ finale ceramah rally. They returned home a little shell-shocked to tell their father that it was mammoth, and even the old ladies in the crowd and the stallholders at the edge of the rally were shouting, “Takbir!”

Zaidi Hassan, a Kelantan intellectual, said the PAS leadership used to comprise the ulama and ustaz. But Samsuri will now lead the second-liners of professionals and technocrats who will help balance out the party’s theocratic image.

“Issues raised by PAS in the coming years will expand beyond religion to matters that the average Malaysian can relate to, like abuse of power, transparency and accountability,” said Zaidi.

When the dust settles, Umno needs to ask itself: How many more signals does the party need from the Malays before it takes radical action to reform?