Despite being portrayed as a hardline Islamist party, PAS won in ALL Chinese dominated areas in the seat — Sama Gagah, Cross Street and Permatang Pauh — thumping Umno with CLEAR majorities.
In the mainly Chinese areas of Sama Gagah and Cross Street, the Pas candidate won 1397 and 942 votes, compared with 594 and 300 for BN. It is believed that as much as 75 per cent of Chinese vote went to Pas.
Rohaizat and his Umno colleagues should not be surprised that the Chinese are not voting for them. They belong to a party that has ratcheted racialist rhetoric over the past few months, focusing on the Malay vote bank over all others.
If Umno continues its approach of only looking after the interest of Malay/Muslim voters and alienating non-Malays, it will have to obtain more than 60 per cent of the Malay vote in every electoral contest — a near impossible target given the hardcore support Pas enjoys in the Malay heartland.
The fact is that many seats right across West Malaysia are just like Permatang Pasir, mixed constituency wards with a significant Malay majority but with sizeable non-Malay voters.
BN’s campaigning materials depicted had PAS as an extremist group; focusing on Chinese-sensitive issues like the pig abattoir closure in Kedah and beer sales in Selangor to regain much of the lost Chinese votes that went to Pakatan Rakyat in last year’s general election. They have painted PAS as a puppet of the DAP, which rules Penang with PKR, asking the Malays to unite under Umno — be it directly or obliquely through its media — to fight off unreasonable claims by other citizens of the country.
As Utusan’s columnist Noraini Abdul Razak puts it eloquently, this is Umno’s last chance to learn.
Umno has to learn its lessons and put it to good use if its to gain support from the non-Malays. Otherwise, Malaysia will see more racialist rhetoric and Rohaizats out there losing it for Umno.
If Umno continues to encourage saber-rattling talk, wear its arrogance as a badge of honour and believes that it can hammer non-Malays into submission, then it will have to accept that Permatang Pasir will not be a one-off. Read here for more and HERE
--- END OF UPDATE ----
Read here for more from readers of malaysia-today
Quote
"....With this solid win , the rakyat hope the entire Pakatan Rakyat will work together, instead of stabbing each another with racial and religion issues.
Use religion as a GUIDING principle.
Use religion as an EXAMPLE to teach and reach out to the masses.
This is also NOT a license to PAS to ban this and that.
I go to Hell, it is MY problem.
- "johanssm"
PAS has won the Permatang Pasir state seat by-election in Penang today with a majority of 4,551 votes.
PAS candidate 55-year-old candidate Mohd Salleh polled 9,618 votes while BN's Mohd Rohaizat Othman, 38, garnered 5,067.Voter turnout had also decreased this time around to 73 percent. In the previous election, the turnout was 82.6 percent.
PAS actually maintained its share of the votes. In 2008 it was 66.39% and yesterday it was 65.5%, a drop of a mere 0.89%. That is less than 1%.
- The PAS leadership does some soul-searching to see if their actions of late have put off a segment of the rakyat who have voted for them.
Voted for them in the belief that PAS is part of the agenda for change, change for a fairer, more just, civil and democractic society.
Not a society based on their extremist interpretation of what is good for all Malaysians!! - With this solid win , the rakyat hope the entire Pakatan Rakyat will work together instead of stabbing each another with racial and religion issues.
PAS , DAP and PKR must remember that it was the Malaysians from all walks of live voted you in.
It was NOT melayu who gave you the win, it was NOT the Chinese ,and definitely NOT the Indians who gave you the win.It was Malaysians who gave you the win.
THIS is also NOT a license to PAS to ban this and that.
We still want the beer, the 4Ds, the massage shops and karaoke.
I go to hell, it is MY problem. Don't worry about me .
Please use religion as a guiding principle and use religion as an example to teach and reach out to the masses.
And yes, congratulations to PR and PAS.
Please work together and discuss problems.
And congratulations to Umno for their consistency in losing.
RELATED ARTICLE
Disappointment is growing in UMNO/BN with the Permatang Pasir defeat
by
Shamsul Yunos
Excerpts: Read here for more
The result of the Permatang Pasir by election is expected because the candidate chosen by the Barisan Nasional came ready-dented in his personality.
WE live in a time when anything BN is seen with the eye of loathing, even their assistance to the poor were rubbished by the Opposition and gleefully accepted by the constituents.
People in Permatang Pauh feels that BN is not really in touch with their sentiments and concerns. Apparently development is not really a concern and their sentiment against the ruling coalition remains negative as the feel that the party has not done enough to rid itself of corrupt practices and corrupt leaders.
Barisan Nasional entered the Permatang Pasir fray thinking that they had a decent chance of denting PAS’s confidence with issues like beer sale in Shah Alam, infighting in Selangor and fracturing Pakatan Rakyat in Kedah.
From the result, it seems that traditional Umno voters have not returned to support the party in Permatang Pasir, in stark contrast to the near wholesale return of Umno supporters.
The first impression of Rohaizat (by voters) was of a discredited lawyer and someone dishonest to his first wife for marrying a second woman and not telling.
In the final analysis, Barisan Nasional is no nearer to finding the people’s heart and they have just over two more years to figure out how they can continue to be relevant to Malaysia and its politically fast-maturing people.
It is really up to Umno and Barisan Nasional if they want people to weep their passing or to have the party disappear without a single tear shed.
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