H-Net* Early campaigning helped PAS

[Concorde]

Monday, December 6, 1999 Early campaigning helped PAS PETALING JAYA: PAS's five-year early start in campaigning for the 10th general election helped the party win an additional state seat and make major inroads in other states. International Islamic University communications department head Prof Syed Arabi Idid said PAS started campaigning immediately after the previous polls in 1995, adding that the Islamic party also had an extremely well-oiled election machinery. "Apart from the Anwar issue, this was one of the reasons why PAS managed to retain Kelantan and wrest Terengganu from Umno. "Even in states like Kedah and Selangor, it managed to garner substantial support," he said. In the recent elections, popular votes for the Barisan Nasional in state seats dropped by almost 10 percentage points from 66.84% in 1995 to 56.38%. Among the Barisan coalition parties, only Umno suffered a drawback with a drop of two percentage points in popular votes compared to MCA, MIC and Gerakan. Those for the Opposition rose from 33.16 percentage points in 1995 to 43.62. Among the Opposition parties, PAS took the lead by an increase of a whopping 18 percentage points. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia political scientist Prof P. Ramasamy attributed the huge gains in popular votes for PAS to the split in Malay votes. "Usually, PAS is the major gainer of any political crisis in the country. "Unlike Keadilan, which has only been established recently, PAS has always been around as an Opposition party and very experienced in terms of planning its strategy," he said. Prof Syed Arabi said the fall of Terengganu to PAS could also be attributed to an internal bickering among Umno leaders in the state. "The previous Mentri Besar was not well-liked and they also could not agree to a specific strategy for the elections. "Even the state election machinery was slow to activate as in some areas, the posters were not hung up," he said, adding that these were his observations during his trip to Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah for the general election recently. "The information booths set up by Umno were also not manned. "This created a psychological effect on the voters as the Opposition booths were fully manned, showing PAS to be a more organised party," said Prof Syed Arabi. The party, he added, also relied heavily on cassettes, video tapes and books of their ceramah to bring their message to the masses. "They also have links with student bodies. Umno, however, has yet to establish such relationships," he said. Prof Syed Arabi said the Malay heartland states like Terengganu and Kelantan, had not enough Chinese and Indian voters to swing the victory to the side of Barisan candidates unlike in state seats like Kajang where the Chinese voters supported the Opposition due to local issues and MCA lost out to PAS," he said. For Kedah, Prof Syed Arabi said several Umno political heavyweights lost to PAS candidates because they were seen as the Mentri Besar's men.

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