For PAS, Bersih rally catalyst to lead Malay vote

KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — PAS’s foray in the July 9 Bersih rally could result in the party cementing a firm leadership position in uniting rural and urban Malays, as analysts believe that more and more Malay support is gravitating towards the Islamist party.

They also believe that rival Malay party Umno has underestimated the anger and dissatisfaction of voters with the present ruling administration, predicting that this would translate in stronger support for the upcoming electoral reforms march.

“For PAS, it can potentially take the momentum away from Umno, everything needs to start from a big event like Bersih... the party is gaining support from younger people, Malays, there is now a shift of perception in the Malay electorate.

Ibrahim feels the Bersih rally is a coming out for PAS. — File pic

“The demands of Bersih are for free and fair elections... no one in the right mind would go against it,” Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian told The Malaysian Insider. PAS is aiming to galvanise all one million of its members to take part in the assembly.


“In a way, the rally is a coming out for the party, in view of its change in leadership... the changes will set (new) standards for PAS,” said Ibrahim in reference to PAS’s recently-concluded party elections, where grassroots activist Mohamed Sabu became deputy president.

Ibrahim said that bread and butter issue such as inflation and subsidy cuts, added with worsening race relations debate in the country, may also spur more people to attend the upcoming rally.

Another political analyst, Dr Faizal Hazis, charged that the reason why Umno and the rest of Barisan Nasional (BN) were distancing themselves from Bersih was because like the first rallly back in 2007, it was a “social movement” backed by the opposition.

But he too, like Ibrahim, believes that the BN administration is responding wrongly by issuing a zero-tolerance policy towards the rally and its organisers, and stressed that the ruling coalition “had not learnt its lesson” from the last general election.

“I think PAS is trying to portray that they can lead the Malays other than Umno, and that they can make inroads with middle-class Malays as well,” the Unimas lecturer told The Malaysian Insider.

Mahfuz said PAS was taking part in the rally to fight for the rights of all Malaysians. — File pic

PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar said his party’s participation in the rally was to address and let voters know of the Islamist party’s commitment to ensuring free and fair elections as well as justice and opportunities for all races.


“We are going into this rally to fight for the rights of all Malaysians, all their interests... only when you have fair elections and when you have a transparent government, there is proper check and balance, then we know where every single sen of taxpayer’s money is going to,” the Pokok Sena MP told The Malaysian Insider.

The first Bersih rally in 2007 saw up to 50,000 people take to the streets of Kuala Lumpur before they were dispersed by police armed with tear gas and water cannons.

The demonstration has been partly credited for Pakatan Rakyat’s record gains in Election 2008, where the opposition pact swept to power in five states and won 82 parliamentary seats.

Police have said it will not issue any permits for rallies planned on July 9, and arrested some 60 people over the weekend relating to the Bersih rally.

Half of them were released, mostly for wearing Bersih T-shirts, while 30 from Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) are being remanded a week for investigations into “waging war against the monarch” as police found their T-shirts bore images of communist leaders. -TMI