In Kelantan, homosexuality tops and trumps over other social, development issues?
KOTA BHARU - The Kelantan Pas leaders seem to be more concern on voicing out Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues while sidelining the state's development, said Kelantan Pakatan Harapan (PH) member.
Dr Wan Shah Jihan Wan Din said PH stronghold in Kelantan is only in Kota Bharu district as folks still have the mentality that only Pas is able to dignify Islam.
“In fact, many Pas leaders only bring up the LGBT issues and other social issues during speeches.
“This is to attract the rakyat rather than raising development issues,” he told Sinar Daily.
In 2022, Kelantan recorded among the highest increase in poverty rate, said former economic affairs minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
The other three states were Kedah, Sabah and Sarawak.
Mustapa said this was due to inequality and imbalanced development across the country in terms of wealth, income, education and infrastructure.
Speaking on why many Kelantan youths voted for Perikatan Nasional (PN) during 15th general election, Wan Shah further added that PH did not fully use social media.
“PN in GE15 used Malay and Islamic issues in social media and we did not have enough time to curb this problem.
“We also see that the PN spends a lot of money to attract young voters.”
For the upcoming state election, Wan Shah added PH Kelantan will try to fully use social media to win the hearts of young people here.
Echoing Wan Shah’s view, PH Rantau Panjang Youth chief Mohd Farek Haron further added that the main reason why PH lost in the constituency was due to family factors.
“Young people from Kuala Lumpur who returned home voted for Pas due to family factors.
“They came back to their village to vote for PH but when they return to the village, their families told them to support Pas,” Farek stressed.
He also said city youths are still not able to motivate their families in their hometown to vote against Pas.
