[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 08 Aug 1999
Time: 00:29:16
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PAS: BN should hold polls next year
By Leslie Lau
KOTA BARU: A senior PAS leader here said it would be to the Barisan Nasional's advantage to call for polls only next year if the ruling coalition was serious about wresting control of the state.
PAS state secretary Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah said if elections were held next year, Barisan Nasional candidates were likely to have a better chance of winning.
This was because Umno only started their own voter-registration exercise this year and these new voters who are likely to be Umno supporters would only be on this year's electoral rolls, he said.
"Umno branches were preoccupied last year with their own party polls and did not participate fully in voter-registration exercises.
"They only started doing it this year," he said in an interview.
However, Wan Abdul Rahim's arguments do not reflect a visibly stepped-up Barisan campaign.
Besides Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, other Kelantanese Umno leaders like Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, Datuk Annuar Musa and Datuk Ibrahim Ali had in recent weeks been criss-crossing the state and meeting the people.
Acting Umno Youth Chief Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein was also expected to be in the state next week.
In contrast, apart from the preponderance of PAS flags in the state, there is very little PAS activity besides the regular ceramahs by party leaders.