PN's ambition is to dominate richest state
MOHD IZZATUL IZUAN TAHIR and NURFARDLINA IZZATI MOKTARSHAH ALAM - Perikatan Nasional (PN) is ready to trigger a wave of voters that will tear down the Pakatan Harapan (PH) stronghold in Selangor in the next state election, ending PH’s three-term dominance in the richest state in the country since 2008.
Selangor Pas deputy commissioner I Mohd Shafie Ngah said the mood of voters in the state was said to be more in favour of PN and Pas had been in administration of the state with Pakatan Rakyat for two terms leaving a good record.
He also criticised the statement made by Community Communication Department (J-Kom) director-general Datuk Mohammad Agus Yusoff who claimed that voters in the state were not interested to vote for PN in the state election as they refused to experience declination like in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah which were under Pas’ administration.
On Sunday, Agus said among the other factors were that voters rejected political extremism and could no longer be poisoned with the Malay-Islam sentiments.
“Before this, Agus’ political analysis always went off track and I believe that this time, it is also the same. In Selangor, the wave of voters’ switching to PN has been proven in GE15.
“I'm confident that the wave will continue and it will be bigger in the state election soon,” Shafie said.
Shafie said the country’s economy was at an excellent level when Pas used to administer Selangor between 2008 and 2018.
He said since 2008, Selangor’s economy was in good condition with results that accumulated more than two times compared to the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration, before.
He added that the accumulated revenue continued to increase year after year even though the people of Selangor enjoyed the return through the ‘Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor’ (MES) among others.
Meanwhile, PN youth chief Ahmad Fadhli said there were no green waves in Selangor and instead it was the wave of the people who will reject PH-BN.
“The wave of people continues to advance and until now people are still protesting against the government,” he said.
Selangor is among the six states that will hold the state election besides Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.
On June 12, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the Prime Minister with State Civil Servants briefing said Selangor’s performance as a fortress of the unity government continued to be defended because of its performance, besides the commitment to save the state and the nation.
Some analysts argued that if PH fails to defend Selangor, it could tarnish Anwar’s image as Prime Minister, even weakening his influence at the national level considering Selangor was the highest contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP).