PADANG SERAI: Perikatan Nasional is banking on the Malay unification wave seen in the 15th General Election (GE15), to wrest the Padang Serai parliamentary seat from Pakatan Harapan.
PN Arau Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said he was confident that the wave remained "unstoppable" because Umno grassroots members and the Malays were frustrated by the party leadership's move to ditch its 'No Anwar' and 'No DAP' policy.
"You can do anything you want, but this wave of change driven by the Malay and Muslim community which forms 70 per cent and 62 per cent of the country population, is unstoppable.
"They can do whatever they want but this movement will march on. Anything that is built outside the Malay unification will not be able to withstand, thus we need to go back to the Malay Bumiputera support base," he told reporters while accompanying PN candidate Datuk Azman Nasrudin campaigning at night market in Sungai Karangan here last night.
The former federal territories minister said the GE15 results which saw the surge of support for PN, was a proof that Umno members and the Malays had rejected the party led by a leader who was flip flopping and using the party for his personal interest.
"Many (Umno leaders) including myself was punished. Back then, I was booed at the Umno general assembly because they regarded me as going against the current (for promoting Malay unity).
"The 'No Anwar' 'No DAP' was approved in the Umno General Assembly and was subsequently endorsed the party's supreme council.
"It was never mentioned 'Yes Anwar' 'Yes DAP'. This has frustrated the Umno grassroots members and the Malays who had supported Umno.
"That was why (in the GE15) in Perlis and nationwide the Malays had rejected Umno and BN leading to PN winning many seats with outstanding majority votes," he said.
Shahidan added that Umno's move to work with Anwar and DAP after the GE15 had betrayed the party members and those who voted for BN.
"It was an act of betrayal. The Malays wanted a party that can unite them but Umno wanted to go solo (in GE15) but we (PN) on the other hand paved the way for ummah unity.
"If the Malays are united, then the Chinese and Indian community will support, but now they are clueless to which direction the Malays are heading to," he said when asked to comment on Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's statement yesterday.
It was reported that Zahid had explained that the 'No Anwar' 'No DAP' policy was only meant before the GE15.
Shahidan added that he would speak at length on the betrayal of Umno and Malays support when the Parliament convenes its session later this month.
"I don't want to mention name now, I will speak at length in Parliament session.
"I will expose the truth about those who had used the party for personal interest was uncalled for because of the 'No Anwar' 'No DAP' was Umno's fundamental struggles that was supported by the Malays," he said.
Shahidan added that he was confident that the voters in Padang Serai would back PN to add one more seat in the Dec 7 polls from 73 to 74 in order to form a stable government afterward.
The Padang Serai parliamentary election will see six-cornered battle.
Azman will be locking horns against Datuk C. Civaraj (Barisan Nasional); Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak (Pakatan Harapan); Hamzah Abdul Rahman (Pejuang); Mohd Bakri Hashim (Warisan), and Independent candidate Sreadnandha Rao.
The Padang Serai parliamentary seat was previously held by PH's M. Karupaiya when he secured a 8,813 vote-majority win, defeating MCA candidate Datuk Dr Leong Yong Kong and Mohammad Sobri Osman from Pas in the previous general election.
Karupaiya, 69, was nominated again by PH on Nov 5 to defend the seat. However, he died on Nov 16, two days after being admitted to Kulim Hospital due to a heart attack while campaigning.
Following his death, the Election Commission had decided to postpone the Padang Serai polls to Dec 7.
Padang Serai has 133,767 eligible voters, with 81,230 of the voters in Lunas state constituency while the remaining 52,546 voters in Merbau Pulas constituency.