KUALA LUMPUR – Bersatu information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan has dismissed fears of a “green wave” or creeping Islamisation following PAS’ surprising gains under Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the recent general election.
Rather, new voters had voted “based on integrity” and not because they wanted to support a Malay party, the new Tasek Gelugor MP told the Consider This show on Astro Awani.
“I disagree that this is a green wave or an Islamic uprising,
“This is an integrity wave. People are saying enough with corruption, lies, and the story-telling we’ve been seeing for years, let’s support a new party in the form of PN,” he said in the video of the interview, which he posted on Facebook.
He said PN had always stuck to its principle of not working with Barisan Nasional (BN) because of its leaders who were facing court cases, and had also been consistent about not working with Pakatan Harapan because of DAP.
He agreed with a question about the rise of political Islam in the country, and said that while it is “becoming more popular now, it is also a more moderate version of political Islam”.
“Political Islam has always existed in this country...the debate has been ongoing since there was Hizbur Muslimin, before it became PAS.”
But when asked about increasing racial and religious rhetoric since the general election and how much of it had been coming from PAS, Wan Saiful said he disagreed.
“People in PAS and PN are saying things that we’ve been saying for many months.
“What has changed is that the BN and PH side are trying to label that conversation as an ethnic divide.
“Stop turning this conversation into a racial debate, let’s focus the conversation on ideology,” he said.
He called PN and himself “centre-right” in political ideology while labelling PH and BN now as having “leftist ideas” that “originate from the socialist family”.
“Every time we raise that, they say, ahhh, this is racist, this is Islamic.
“We are saying that we will never work with kleptocrats, so stop saying we are racist, instead, why are you working with kleptocrats?”
He also took a swipe at PH supporters in urban areas, such as those in the “Bangsar bubble”.
“I’m really shocked how quickly the Bangsar bubble’s allegiance switched from hating the court cluster to embracing them now. We need to be more principled in this country.”
Wan Saiful also claimed that cracks have appeared in the PH-led unity government because certain people from government parties had approached him for “talks”.
“Even last night, some people from that coalition in the government were already trying to initiate a discussion. I’m not at liberty to disclose further, but I can say cracks are already appearing in this government.
“We need to remember who this government is working with, it’s people trying to run away from court cases.”
He said PH was being unprincipled by being willing to work with Umno’s “court cluster” and by putting “a key leader of the court cluster as deputy prime minister”, in reference to Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is still facing 47 graft charges in court.
At the same time, he said Umno had a “track record of not fulfilling their side of agreements”.
Asked if there would be anything that could derail the confidence vote Anwar had called for himself as prime minister when Parliament convenes on December 19 and 20, Wan Saiful said the threat would be internal, from within parties in government.
“Not from PN, as we are firm on being the opposition,” he said.
He also said that PN would form its shadow cabinet soon, and that the leadership would also be announcing the name of the opposition leader.
In GE15, PN won 74 parliamentary seats, making it the second largest bloc in Parliament after PH which won 82 seats. Of PN’s total, PAS has 44, more than double its electoral performance in the 2018 polls. – The Vibes, December 9, 2022
