WILL JOHOR REMAIN UMNO FORTRESS?
Johor, currently an UMNO fortress, will go to the polls first on Jul 11. The results will reveal whether UMNO remains the unassailable guardian of Malay interests in the strategic southern gateway of Peninsular Malaysia or whether the party has hollowed out beneath the surface.
The UMNO-led Barisan National (BN) coalition is hoping for a big win in Johor to build momentum when it does battle in Negeri Sembilan, which goes to the polls on Aug 1. Wresting control of the Negeri Sembilan state government away from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan coalition, would embolden UMNO’s push for early national elections.
This assumption, however, ignores the quiet transformation of PAS from a northern curiosity to a serious participant in the upcoming state polls.
For years, UMNO and its BN allies successfully portrayed PAS as a party full of turbaned clerics who practice a dogmatic brand of Islam that allows for severe corporal and criminal punishments for certain crimes.
That stereotype no longer holds. While Hadi still regularly sports a white turban and a long, flowing ankle-length garment that reinforces his identity as a veteran cleric, the Islamic party’s current leaders are more partial to suits that exude executive authority.
PAS is already bulking up for this new political challenge by exploiting the turmoil in former Prime Minister Muhyiddin’s Bersatu.
Hamzah Zainuddin, previously Bersatu’s Number 2, fell out with his boss early this year and was expelled for allegedly breaching the party constitution. But his expulsion only damaged Muhyiddin and Bersatu more.
Hamzah took 19 of Bersatu’s 25 MPs and most of the party’s division chiefs nationwide with him. On Jun 13, he launched his so-called “Wawasan” or Vision political movement in the heartland of Kelantan – at an event graced by PAS chief Hadi himself.
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