Although Sarawak PAS hopes to make inroads in the upcoming state elections, it is nevertheless cautious over its prospects in winning seats.
 
When met at a fund-raising dinner for the Sarawak elections organised by PAS Youth recently, its chief Mohammad Arifiriazul Paijo said they do not want to overstate their support among voters.
 
As such, they have to face reality and are looking at winning only two seats.
 
“We have to ‘ukur baju di badan sendiri’ (be realistic). Right now, we have no seats, so obviously it is not good for us to say that we want to win 10.
 
“Two seats are more than enough for us at the moment. Hopefully by winning two seats we can get more (in the future),” he told Malaysiakini.
 
Sarawak PAS is being prudent; critics have even branded it as “irrelevant” and not up to par with its counterparts in the peninsular.
 
That Muslims – the natural vote base of the Islamic party – does not form the majority in Sarawak brings with it its own set of challenges.
 
Arifiriazul (above), however, remains optimistic that the state’s ethnic diversity is not a strike against Sarawak PAS.
 
He cited the Sibuti parliamentary seat in the last general election as an example.

Although PAS did not win the seat, he said most of its votes came from the non-Muslim community.
 
“It is not a problem for us to penetrate the multi-religious, multi-cultural population in Sarawak.
 
“The Sarawak culture is such that it is not strange for non-Muslims and Muslims to mix together.
 
“And during elections, PAS has never been chased out from people’s houses even though the voters know we are not from Barisan Nasional,” he said.
 
Wresting Muslim vote from BN
 
Its main challenge is to wrestle the Muslim vote away from BN, which Arifiriazul said had been “educating Sarawakians with material things”.
 
“We are not a rich party. See, we even have to raise funds for the elections.
 
“But frankly, the most difficult thing is to get the support from Malays and Muslims, more so because BN representatives take ‘exceptional care’ of Muslim areas.
 
Arifiriazul claims that from the feedback Sarawak PAS had received from the Dayak community, there are double standards between the Dayak and Malay areas in the implementation of the state projects.
 
“The Dayak said even the water tanks they were given are different in terms of quality,” he said.
 
As for negotiations over the seat allocations between the opposition coalition in the state, Arifiriazul said they have had two rounds of negotiations thus far.
 
They haven’t come to an agreement about the seats yet, but three-corner fights for him are out of the question.
 
“Three-corner fights will not happen. That’s my promise.
 
“As long as we are in Pakatan Rakyat and we still respect and honour the bond in the coalition, such a thing will not occur,” he said.
 
Sarawak DAP last year had threatened to pull out from Pakatan should PAS persist with its hudud ambitions.
 
On this, Arifiriazul said on a personal level, both Sarawak PAS and Sarawak DAP can still discuss things over tea together.
 
“We are still trying to improve our relationship. But we have no problems on the personal level,” he said.
 
‘We nearly won Beting Maro seat’
 
Meanwhile, on Sarawak PAS’ perceived “irrelevance”, state commissioner Adam Ahid rubbished this, arguing that the lack of Muslims in the state was all the more reason for it to be in existence.
 
“Some have said that there is no use to bring PAS to Sarawak, but I argued that because there are not many Muslims, therefore we want to preach, so that they understand Islam and will thus convert,” he said.
 
“If we are not relevant, we would not have nearly won the Beting Maro state seat in the last state elections.”
 
The Sarawak state elections, due latest in 2016, will be PAS’ third attempt at the state polls.
 
The party’s election director Mohd Hatta Ramli said they were encouraged by their performance in the last elections, albeit a “modest” one.
 
“We gave Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) a good fight in Beting Maro where we lost by a few hundred votes and none of our candidates elsewhere lost their deposits.
 
“We have made some breakthrough among the non-Muslim population with our community effort. We expect a better outing this time,” he said.
 
He nevertheless admitted that it was a “daunting” task to free the state from BN’s firm grip.
 
“However, it is not all rosy in Sarawak BN. They have problems among the component parties, too.
 
“Although we prefer to win on our own strength, a fractured BN will enhance our chances.”
 
When asked whether the party was optimistic over Sarawak PAS’ chances, Hatta said it will focus on establishing at least three strong domains among the state constituencies.
 
“We still have time to consolidate our machinery and pour in manpower resource. There are 11 new states seats, mostly in Muslim bumiputera areas.
 
“So we expect PAS to be tasked to battle it on behalf of Pakatan,” he added.