KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — PAS leader Azhar Yahya believes split votes among the 113,863 registered voters in the Batu parliamentary seat here will be to his advantage in the 15th general election (GE15), as he touted his Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition as more united than Barisan Nasional (BN) or Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Although Batu has a staggering 10 candidates — which is the highest-ever number in Batu and the highest nationwide this GE15 — Azhar said the contest is largely confined to just four candidates, including himself.
“I think in Batu, it is a four-cornered fight lah, although 10 (candidates). Three-cornered — Prabakaran PH, BN Kohilan Pillay and us PN — and one more Tian Chua,” Azhar told Malay Mail when met recently.
He was referring to PH’s P. Prabakaran who is defending his Batu seat after serving one term, BN’s MIC vice-president Datuk A. Kohilan Pillay, and former two-term Batu MP Chua Tian Chang or Tian Chua who is standing as an independent.
Asked how he would overcome the challenge of Prabakaran and Tian Chua being easily recognisable by Batu voters, Azhar said both have their own grassroots, but expressed confidence in his own.
“Prabakaran has his own core voters because PKR, PH have their core supporters. Tian Chua is an old-timer here; he has his own grassroots. We also have our own grassroots,” said Azhar, who grew up in Sentul and attended primary school there.
Noting that PAS operates eight Pusat Asuhan Tunas Islam (Pasti) pre-schools or kindergartens and one primary school under its Sekolah Rendah Integrasi Teras Islam (Sriti) chain in Batu, Azhar said more than 1,000 parents or families from these schools alone form part of his grassroots support.
“So we have our own grassroots. Each have their strengths; most importantly, we provide service to the community. So undeniably Prabakaran also has his machinery, Tian Chua also has his machinery, so we offer our machinery, which is a lot from PAS and Bersatu. We have sufficient machinery to menyantuni (serve) Batu if we win. Even when we had yet to win previously, we could serve all; if we win, we can serve even more,” the Federal Territories PAS commissioner said.
Azhar also highlighted that his role as an Islamic preacher who teaches in mosques and surau meant that many in Batu know him, saying it is easy to find him in these places without having to make an appointment.
“Can meet in surau, mosques, everyone knows me. Non-Muslims can also come to the mosques, surau, no problem, can find me there because I teach there. Early in the morning, dawn, 6am already teaching the community, and after that, can meet the community and ask if there are any needs,” he said.
With Prabakaran saying that Azhar is his biggest competitor in Batu, Azhar does not think it will be difficult to defeat his three main rivals.
“Among these three, I think we can face all of them. I don’t feel it will be difficult facing any of them because each has their strengths. But we are confident our grassroots are capable, better than the grassroots of those three,” he said.
Asked which of his contenders does he view to be the strongest, Azhar said he did not view BN or PH to be strong due to their alleged disunity.
“So now, no one is strong. So now the one which is strong is the citizens that will choose. I think 60 per cent of the community has no party. The 40 per cent who have parties are divided. The strongest is actually those without parties who will determine the position here.
Believing that voters will be split on who to support in the 10-cornered fight for Batu, Azhar said such a scenario will benefit him as he touted the PN coalition as the most united among all coalitions.
“So far, I think with the division among them, this will give an advantage to me. Because when they are divided, they have no unity. PH supporters are split between Tian Chua and Prabakaran, that will split votes which will result in PN having capability.
“So I ask the citizens, find a party that is capable of winning, which is capable of bringing unity. Here we have Bersatu, Gerakan, PAS, we are united, there are no quarrels. If leaders are divided, how can they bring the rakyat’s agenda?
“So here, the advantage is to Perikatan Nasional because we are united, we have no problem of division, although here we have Federal Territories Bersatu chairman Datuk Captain (Rtd) Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya, he gave way and support to me,” he said.
As for whether PAS supporters will be able to recognise the PN logo that Azhar is contesting under this time, he believes that they will.
“For me, it’s not a problem. For me, it is more suitable because our leadership felt that on the west coast, we use Perikatan (logo), no problem, it would even be more attractive to all and now we have very advanced social media, so that information reaches everyone. Perikatan Nasional is a coalition. They already understand that, so no problem on that logo issue,” he said.
Back in 2018, which saw Azhar contesting Batu for the first time, he used the PAS logo and won 10,610 out of the 62,805 valid votes cast there. Azhar came in third in that race, with Prabakaran winning 38,125 votes or about 60 per cent of the votes, which represented a 24,438 vote-majority over Gerakan’s current president Datuk Dominic Lau who garnered 13,687 votes for BN. Independent candidate Datuk VM Panjamothy won 383 votes.
PN, which was formed in early 2020, features PAS which has been around for many decades; the relatively young party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia which was formed about six years ago; Gerakan which left BN in June 2018 and joined PN in 2021, and two Sabah-based parties SAPP and STAR.
Serving since 2018 election loss
“After the 2018 elections, we had yet to succeed — not lost — because in a situation where all rejected Umno, PAS also kena tempias (also got affected), but PAS still garnered 10,500 votes. To me, those are solid votes. In a situation where people reject, but still there are over 10,000 (votes), that means we have strong grassroots.
“So starting from the first day of declaration that we did not win, we continue to carry out work, no need to wait for general elections to do work. So the work we do, we continue welfare work, educating the public, giving assistance to them through what we have.
For example, Azhar said flood relief efforts recently were directed at places such as Selangor and Pahang but said Kampung Delima in Batu itself was also affected by the floods last year and that was where PAS had provided aid.
“We set up a ‘dapur rakyat’ where we cooked food, and we served it to the residents and to the machinery who helped to clean. We have ‘tentera semut merah’ — Unit Amal — who cleaned the houses that were flooded. So we served throughout the flood season, we have service that the community sees,” Azhar said.
According to Azhar’s candidate representative Abu Bakar Abdul Rahman, about 21 houses in the village were affected in the floods late last year, with PAS’ uniformed volunteers’ unit under its Jabatan Amal Malaysia helping to clear debris and clean up the flooded houses by the second day and serving meals for five days.
Throughout the movement control order (MCO), Azhar said his party was also part of the ruling government via the Resident Representative Council (MPP), with Umno and PAS each holding three MPPs positions each and joining forces to channel aid to the residents in Batu.
“We gave assistance to all without taking into account their political background or religion, all who are affected, we helped during the MCO,” the Batu MPP adviser said, adding that more than 10,000 food packs had been distributed to Batu residents.
As a second-time contender in Batu, Azhar said he is more prepared this time around and said the community here has started to know his party better through their service under the government and via the government’s MPP.
On top of ruling Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, he added that PAS now also has experienced being part of the federal government under PN and also subsequently under caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration, and that such an experience has led to PAS joining forces with fellow ruling parties — whether it is Umno or Bersatu — to serve the public together.
“I was also director of Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Yadim), we carried out welfare work to all places, especially Batu because this is my own area,” he said, referring to the government body.
As for what he intends to do for Batu if elected as MP, Azhar has narrowed it down to five broad items adopted from PN’s national manifesto for GE15, including having a programme to develop human resources in Batu.
Azhar listed the rest as the use of Kad Prihatin Nasional to access health services, providing bus services and free care centres for the poor and a special scheme for gig workers; and appointing youths to be Dewan Negara members and a 25 per cent discount on federal study loan PTPTN for second class graduates and above and affordable rent under a micro housing scheme for youths.
The other two items are helping vulnerable groups by setting up a department for senior citizens, enhancing the business financing scheme Dananita for women and holding training programmes for people with disabilities who had completed schooling; and allocating RM1 billion for a fund to increase food production and stabilise food prices.
