KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has sailed through Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) much-touted “rakyat’s referendum” with flying colours, Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim said today.

The Johor federal lawmaker said his party president Anwar should be given due recognition for leading PKR and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to the successful defence of its three strongholds — Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Penang — in yesterday’s six state elections, and allowed to forge ahead with governing the country according to his Madani ideology undisturbed.

“Anwar Ibrahim is now more experienced, has become more of a visionary and is ready to self-reflect after going through the challenging state elections.

“Anwar Ibrahim must be given the opportunity to shoulder the historic tasks to save this multiracial, multireligious and multicivilisation country from being destroyed by extreme right-wing and sectarian political leaders in Perikatan Nasional (PN),” Hassan said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.

He is currently abroad in Mecca.

In the same post, the plain-speaking PKR politician said Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should shoulder the responsibility for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) electoral failure.

“The one defeated and must take responsibility for Umno’s losses in the 89 seats contested on the BN logo is Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi,” Hassan said.

He said Anwar has been the clear commander in the recently ended six state elections.

Even though the PH chairman has yet to penetrate the PAS-PN fortress in the other three states — Terengganu, Kelantan, and Kedah — and even though there were a few seat losses, Hassan said it was clear that the PH coalition had not been defeated and the electoral status quo maintained.

“Umno-BN was clearly defeated, like Muda which lost its deposit in all the state seats it contested. But this did not happen to PKR and PH.

“PKR and PH remain Malaysian citizens’ top choice to build hope for the future generation,” he said.

The PH and BN joined forces to take on the PN coalition in six state elections yesterday, setting aside decades of hostilities.

The six state elections saw PN strengthening its hold on Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu while achieving significant victories in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Penang which the PH-BN alliance succeeded in defending.

BN and notably Umno — which teamed up with PH to form the federal government after last November’s general election — fared worse this round, winning only 19 out of a total 108 seats in the six state elections.

The Malay nationalist party was decimated in Terengganu where the PAS-led PN made a clean sweep of all 32 state seats there.

Apart from Hassan, Umno veteran and former Terengganu menteri besar Tan Sri Idris Jusoh has called on Zahid to take responsibility for the party’s “100 per cent” losses by stepping down from leading the party and the BN coalition.

The two other BN parties, MCA and MIC, did not contest in the latest round of state elections.