KOTA BARU – Umno’s move to sack Tan Sri Annuar Musa could make it more difficult for the party and its new ally, Pakatan Harapan (PH) to regain the state from PAS for the upcoming state polls.
The 15th general election (GE15) saw PAS and its ally Bersatu making a clean sweep in Kelantan, winning all 14 Parliament seats – including defeating Umno veteran Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in Gua Musang.
Tengku Razaleigh was the nation’s longest-serving parliamentarian until his defeat last month to an unknown PAS ulama Mohd Azizi Abu Naim by a mere 163 votes.
PAS now has nine and Bersatu has five Parliament seats respectively in Kelantan.
Kelantan PH chairman Datuk Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah said since Annuar’s sacking, efforts for either PH or Barisan Nasional (BN) to gain a foothold in the state became more complicated as Annuar subsequently launches his non-government organisation Muafakat Nasional with hints of supporting PAS.
“The green wave momentum, which saw the PAS-dominated Perikatan Nasional (PN) whitewash BN and PH in Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis and Kedah with damage inflicted on Penang, is still strong.
“If a state election were to be done soon, we would be having our hands full even though there is a national unity pact between PH and BN,” Wan Rahim told The Vibes.
He also said that it remains to be seen how both PH and BN’s grassroots will react to the national unity government, especially with surging support for PN in the background.
“But if Annuar’s influence is confined to his stronghold in Ketereh, his sacking from the party which he first contested under in 1986 can be constricted,” he said.
Wan Rahim, who is also affectionately known as Cikgu Rahim for being an ex-school teacher and former footballer, is a veteran figure in Kelantan politics.
He was once regarded as the left-hand of the late PAS spiritual adviser and longest-serving Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who passed away in 2015.
Nik Aziz’s right-hand man then was former state executive councillor Datuk Husam Musa, who contested on a PKR ticket in the recent election but lost.
Wan Rahim said that to wrest the state, PH and BN need to learn from the 2004 election where with the help of federal agencies in the state, BN – ironically led by Annuar then – came within a whisker to win Kelantan.
At one juncture, out of 45 state seats, PAS only had 23 and BN 22.
“If Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim can lead the federal side and PKR well, it may help us win over the state, but it is indeed a struggle.”
“The green wave was also driven by young voters, who were not exposed to the historical narrative of Malaysian politics,” he said.
Meanwhile, a former state Umno leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the sacking of Annuar has left the Kelantan chapter in a state of disarray, firstly with the previous departure of the highly respected Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed who quit Umno for Bersatu before resigning entirely from politics.
“Perhaps Tok Pa (Mustapa) can be persuaded to come back and help Umno. After all, this is the party which began the Malay political conscious movement.”
Mustapa took over from Annuar as the state Umno leader, leading the party in the 2013 and 2018 elections before joining Bersatu and then opting to retire this year.
The leader said that Umno also needs to adjust fast and effectively to the new political landscape.
“Like it or not, PAS is the biggest winner in the last election although its narrative of extremism may not gel well in a nation which began with pluralism.”
“As many veterans have pointed out, if PAS wins a state, it is virtually impossible to take it back from the Islamist party because they know how to entrench themselves in the community through religion and race,” the leader added. – The Vibes, December 12, 2022
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