‘Pragmatic’ non-Malays will reconsider Perikatan for Putrajaya if PM Anwar fails to deliver on promises, says Bersatu Youth chief

Malay Mail

SHAH ALAM, Nov 23 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal today claimed the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition has a very real chance of taking back the federal government.

The party’s Youth chief claimed this is because non-Malay voters are more pragmatic than their Malay counterparts and will switch to PN if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim fails to deliver on his GE15 promises.

“Based on our historical scenarios that we had before, non-Malay voters are much more pragmatic than the Malays.

“They just want the government to deliver to their best of abilities, to resolve the basic issue of the rakyat,” he said at a press conference during Bersatu’s sixth annual general meeting at the Ideal Convention Centre here this afternoon.

“The most pressing issue as pinpointed by the Merdeka Center is the economy. Rice bowl issue. If the Anwar Ibrahim government fails and continues to fail the rakyat, I’m sure, most of the traditional support base from Pakatan Harapan, the Chinese especially, will walk away from him, and perhaps reconsider PN,” he added.

The Machang MP described Anwar’s administration as “nice on the outside, hollow on the inside.

“As we all know, Anwar’s government looks nice on the outside but its inside is hollow,” he said.

Wan Ahmad Fayhsal reiterated that he will not declare support for Anwar’s government as he does not want to betray his constituents’ trust.

“I campaigned using the PAS and PN’s flag and logo. The Machang people put their trust in me to be with the PN. I will never betray them,” he said.

Wan Ahmad Fayhsal has been a vocal critic of the Anwar administration, and has accused supporters of the prime minister’s party PKR, of using underhanded tactics to lure Bersatu MPs to the government’s side after four of his party men declared their support for Malaysia’s 10th PM.

On November 14, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal claimed that 10 more Bersatu MPs, including himself, received “offers” to support the federal government.

He said offers such as development projects in those Opposition MPs’ constituencies and cash were tabled to by “operators”.

Yesterday, independent pollster Merdeka Center said Anwar’s personal approval rating has slipped to 50 per cent amid rising concern over the performance of Malaysia’s economy.

In its latest survey findings, Merdeka Center said 48 per cent of respondents in its October poll said they were now unhappy with how the Anwar administration was performing.