By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, April 17: Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) Sarawak will continue to focus its resources on winning Beting Maro constituency in the next Sarawak Election, says the party’s secretary Mohammad Arifiriazul Paijo (Arif).
Arif said while the party did not win any seats in previous elections, it was able to evaluate and analyse its performances with the conclusion that Beting Maro is one of its strongholds.
Arif was PAS’ sole candidate in the 2021 Sarawak Election but he failed to unseat Beting Maro incumbent Razaili Gapor of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) who secured 3,769 votes. Mohammad Arif placed second in the five-cornered fight with 2,058 votes.
“We need to be very objective and not like last time when we tried to penetrate all seats. For example, we contested about 11 seats in 2016 Sarawak Election so our results were not really that good.
“In 2021, we started to really narrow (our focus) down to our stronghold (Beting Maro).
“Hopefully that by focusing all our resources on fewer seats, maybe we might be able to achieve better results for the next Sarawk election,” he told reporters during an iftar ceremony with the media at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here last night.
He also made clear that despite the party’s duck egg in securing any seat in Sarawak so far, PAS will not give up as he claimed that the local community has started to show a positive response in accepting the party.
“In the last 15th General Election (GE15), we contested under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) flag which may have affected the voting results because the party supporters were more familiar with the moon logo (PAS logo) rather than the new one,” he added.
Arif also said that despite PAS’ current status as part of the opposition at the federal government level, it does not affect the relationship the party’s Sarawak-branch has with the GPS-led Sarawak government.
“Even before PAS got into power in the federal government, we had a few engagements with the Sarawak government including a few courtesy visits with the former Sarawak Chief Minister, the late Tok Nan (Pehin Sri Adenan Satem).
“The PAS president also paid a courtesy visit to the current Premier (Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg). Thus, I think in terms of momentum and relationship between PAS and GPS, they maintain as status quo.
“During the time PAS was within the government together with GPS, we still contested in the Sarawak Election although we are in the same ship. We also contested in Sarawak for GE15. But still, I strongly believe the relationship still maintained,” Arif emphasised.
He also said that PAS’s presence in Sarawak would serve an important role in ‘check and balance’ to highlight matters that the Sarawak government overlooked.
To date, PAS Sarawak has about 5,000-strong members across Sarawak.
The party is active in 11 parliamentary areas across the region namely, Petra Jaya, Kota Samarahan, Santubong, Batang Sadong, Batang Lupar, Sibu, Mukah, Bintulu, Sibuti, Miri and Limbang.
Also present at the breaking of fast ceremony were PAS Sarawak information chief Syamsul Bahrie Mohd and Youth vice chief Mohd Sabirin Saat. – DayakDaily
