Today is the nomination day for the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state assembly by-elections because of the death of its incumbent, the late Salahuddin Ayub.
PAS leaders see the two by-elections in Johore as a “gateway” for the “Perikatan Nasional wave” to spread to Johor and win the state and they urged the voters in Pulai and Simpang Jeram to “experiment” to ensure that the “PN wave” is maintained and send a strong signal to Pakatan Harapan and BN.
The voters of Pulai and Simpang Jeram should do the very opposite and inflict major defeats for Perikatan Nasional and PAS to demonstrate that the Johore voters do not want PAS to administer Johore to reduce it to one of the poorest states in Malaysia like Kelantan.
When Malaysia achieved independence in 1957, Kelantan’s GDP per capita was about half that of Malaysia. After over three decades of PAS rule, Kelantan GDP per capita has fallen to about one-third of Malaysia’s GDP per capita.
If PAS continues to rule in Kelantan and does not change its ways, Kelantan’s GDP per capita may fall of a quarter of the national GDP per capita when Malaysia marks its first Centennial on 2057!
I do not believe there is any state in Malaysia who wants to have a GDP per capita on Malaysia’s Centennial which is only one quarter of the national GDP per capita, as the people would want to be like Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan which have GDP per capita above the national average.
PN and PAS have made headway in the six state polls on August 12 because they had exploited the 3R issues and benefited from the sea of lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech prevalent in the social media era.
PAS President, Hadi Awang, for instance, has yet to present an iota of evidence to substantiate his wild and preposterous allegations that the DAPA is anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist and promoting Islamophobia proving that he is one of the most dishonest, irresponsible and untrustworthy political leaders in the country.
Islam, like the great religions of the world, do not teach any of its followers to use lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech to solicit support and votes.