KUCHING: Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) Sarawak will focus its resources on winning the Beting Maro constituency in the next state election, said its secretary Mohammad Arifiriazul Paijo.
Despite failing to win any seats in the previous election, he said the party was able to analyse its performance and conclude that Beting Maro is winnable.
Arif, as he is popularly known, said the party needs to be more objective in its approach and not repeat its mistakes in the 2016 Sarawak election, when it went for several seats.
However in the 2021 state election, he said the party decided to concentrate on what he claimed was PAS’ stronghold, Beting Maro.
“Up until 2023, our focus remains the same, which is to win at least one seat. We need to be more objective, not like in 2016 when we contested in about 11 seats, where we failed.
“Therefore, in the 2021 election, we started to focus to our stronghold (Beting Maro).
“Hopefully, by focusing all our resources on fewer seats, maybe we might be able to achieve better results in the next state election,” he told reporters during an iftar programme with the media at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) last night (Apr 16).
In the 2021 election, Arif was the lone representative for PAS, however he fell short of defeating Beting Maro incumbent Razaili Gapor of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), who received 3,769 votes.
Arif garnered 2,058 votes in the five-corner contest.
He said despite not securing any seats in Sarawak, PAS will not give up as the local community has started to show a positive response in accepting the party.
He acknowledged that the party contesting under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) flag in the last 15th general election (GE15) might have affected the voting results because the party supporters were more familiar with the PAS logo.
On PAS’ presence in Sarawak, he said it would play a “check and balance” role.
He claimed that PAS Sarawak has about 5,000 members across Sarawak and is active in 11 parliamentary areas, namely Petra Jaya, Kota Samarahan, Santubong, Batang Sadong, Batang Lupar, Sibu, Mukah, Bintulu, Sibuti, Miri, and Limbang.
The breaking of fast ceremony was also attended by PAS Sarawak information chief Syamsul Bahrie Mohd and youth vice chief Mohd Sabirin Saat.
