PAKATAN Harapan must recruit opposition parties not in the pact to win the Johor elections, DAP’s Young Syefura Othman said.

The Ketari assemblyman told The Malaysian Insight the coalition must rope in Muda and Warisan to face Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional in the state polls.

“We have a good relationship with Muda and it is better to be under the same roof than competing with one other. That will only benefit our enemies.”

“Plus with Muda, which is known for being a youth centric party, we can hope for votes from the young voters.”

“Warisan too, it is better for them to be with us but it is up to them to decide,” she said in an interview with InsightTalk.

The pact did poorly in the last two state elections.

In the November Malacca polls, BN swept up 21 of the state’s 28 seats and 38% of the popular vote.

PH only won five seats, with PKR losing all the 11 seats it contested while DAP bagged four and Amanah, one.

In Sarawak, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) secured a super majority, winning 75 of the 82 seats in the state assembly.

In Malacca its controversial decision to allow those who had brought down the state government,  former chief minister Idris Haron of Umno as a PKR candidate and Umno’s Noor Azman Hassan as an Amanah candidate,  to stand on its ticket earned it flak.

In Sarawak, PKR and DAP were seen to be at loggerheads over seats and failed to work together during the campaign.

Syefura shot down a suggestion for PH to work with Perikatan Nasional which is led by Muhyiddin Yassin’s Bersatu.

“That I cannot agree to. Bersatu was why PH fell and their treacherous actions caused all sorts of problems.

“There is no reason why we should get PN in order to defeat BN. I do not agree with that suggestion,” she said.

Bersatu left Pakatan Harapan in 2020 in a move dubbed as the Sheraton Move causing Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration to collapse in just 22 months.

Bersatu chose to work alongside PAS and Umno in an effort to gain majority support in the Dewan Rakyat.

However, Umno accused Bersatu of trying to dictate the party’s direction and decided to pull out from backing Muhyiddin as prime minister.

Muhyiddin was replaced by Umno’s Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Together under one logo.

Syefura said the opposition coalition should stand together under the PH logo instead of each party using its own.

One common logo would signify strength and unity, she said..

“Every time there is an election, it is the issue (that crops up) other than seat allocation. I am with my party on using the PH logo.

Yesterday PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said his party will use its own logo again in the Johor elections.

DAP and Amanah will use the PH logo, said the PH chairman after attending the coalition’s presidential council meeting at PKR headquarters. 

“The decision on the logo was consensual. PKR will use its own logo while the others will use the PH logo,” said Anwar. 

This is the second time that PKR will be using its own logo in state elections. It lost all the 28 seats it contested in Sarawak last month.

On party hopping, Syefura reminded PH not to admit defectors and field them in elections.

She said PH had made a grave mistake in taking in ex-Umno men Idris Haron and Nor Azman Hassan as candidates in Malacca election.

“I do not agree (with party hoppers). That is why we need an anti-party hopping law.”

“We made a mistake back then in accepting Idris Haron and the likes of him. It was irresponsible for us to accept them and for an elected representative to leave after being given a mandate by the people,” she said.

Both Idris and Nor Azman lost in their respective seats in the Malacca elections. – January 27, 2022.