PAS President: Barisan Nasional Lost GE14 Because of “Politically Immature” Voters

Just yesterday (12th December), PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was interviewed for a SinarTV programme, where he shared his thoughts on why Barisan Nasional (BN) lost the 14th General Election (GE14) for the first time in over 60 years.

According to the Malay Mail, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang stated that BN’s loss could have been partly due to “politically immature” young voters who were influenced by social media. Aside from that, he added that voters also perceived BN leaders’ behaviour as corrupt, which also largely contributed to the coalition’s loss.

Source: sinartv | youtube

He was quoted by the daily as saying,

“But we must be especially aware of how social media controls their minds, particularly young voters.”

Hadi also mentioned that Pakatan Harapan (PH) was largely supported by non-Muslim voters, of which he claims was at 90 per cent.

“Combine this with 30 per cent of youths aged 21 who voted for PH, and you have around 60 per cent of the total national votes. This however led to a PH government that is not in balance with the demographics of the country,” he continued.

Aside from that, the PAS leader also urged depositors of the Tabung Haji fund (TH) not to hastily withdraw their savings. He added that it was not appropriate for some depositors to withdraw their money from the fund, since the role of TH was to ensure the welfare of those performing the haj and was not only focused on the economic sector. He was quoted by The Edge Markets as saying,

“It’s not apt (to withdraw savings from TH) because what is important is to repair TH. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. If there is a mistake (in the TH administration), we correct it.”

Source: yahoo news singapore

Addressing the recent anti-ICERD (the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) rally, he stated that the rally was a democratic practice and was not done with the intention to “topple the government”. He added,

“The allegation that the gathering was for toppling the government is not true at all as we did it to state our thankfulness at the response of the national administration who met the demand that we do not ratify ICERD. Demonstrations are democratic practices but they must be conducted peacefully without disturbing the people.”

You can watch the PAS leader’s full SinarTV interview here. 

Also read: Khairy’s Tweet Goes Viral After He Says BN Lost in GE14 Due to 1MDB