UMNO must win back Terengganu from PAS in the next general election (GE15) or face being locked out of the the state indefinitely, like it is Kelantan, which has been governed by the Islamist party for more than three decades, leaders of the Malay nationalist party said.

The Umno leaders, who asked to remain anonymous, admitted winning the east coast state was going to be difficult based on the initial finds of a Barisan Nasional (BN) survey.

“The Wanita BN report shows Umno has a 50/50 chance of winning Terengganu,” a source told The Malaysian Insight.

“Things are not looking good for Umno even for seats which PAS won with a slim majority in the last election.”

The sources said Umno will find it especially hard to win the Kemaman federal constituency and the Bukit Payong and Jabi state seats.

There are eight federal and 32 state seats in Terengganu, the bulk of which are in PAS hands.

In GE14, PAS ousted Umno in Terengganu after winning 22 out of the 32 state seats. Seven of the seats were lost to PAS by a super slim majority; they were Jabi (55 votes), Ladang (363), Pengkalan Berangan (490), Kuala Berang (1,070), Ajil (4) and Air Putih (746).

At the federal level, PAS won six seats while Umno/BN won two. However, the latter lost one of the seats when Hulu Terengganu MP Rosol Wahid left Umno to join Bersatu in December 2019.

BN state secretary Rozi Mamat had said BN could win 12 state seats that PAS won with a majority of under 3,000 votes.

He was also confident BN can also win five parliamentary seats namely Kemaman, Hulu Terengganu, Kuala Nerus and Setiu, besides retaining Besut.

Sources also said Umno state leaders had discussed with the party’s election director Mohamad Hasan, who is also the deputy president, on strategies to increase their chances of winning in GE15.

Among the things discussed were the efforts to understand the sentiments of new voters, the follow-up of the automatic registration of unregistered voters and Undi18.

“For Terengganu, there are not many voters aged 18 but we are concerned with the voters who are voting for the first time, meaning those over 21 years of age who did not vote in GE14.

“We are worried about this category because Umno cannot predict their sentiments,” he said.

Until April 2022, voters aged between 18 and 20 years old in Terengganu increased by approximately 51,000 people while those aged between 21 and 30 years old increased by almost 246,000 people.

On seat distribution, sources said the state Umno had received a list of proposals from each division, and these were being screened for approval by president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Meanwhile, Terengganu Umno information chief Nik Dir Nik Wan Ku acknowledged the importance of Umno reclaiming Terengganu if it does not want to suffer the same fate as in Kelantan.

He said victory was not impossible because PAS’ performance has not been excellent since GE14.

He said grouses on the ground included the state government cutting funds to the people and not bringing new development but only continuing BN projects.

He said people were also seeing how PAS’ elected reps were no longer showing their Islamic credentials.

“They used to wear robes, turbans but now the robes are gone; they wear coats, have changed cars… their homes didn’t use to have a swimming pool but now they do.

“So where is PAS’ Islam? Everyone knows about Islam… it’s not just (PAS president) Abdul Hadi Awang who knows the religion,” he said.

The former BN candidate in the Marang parliamentary seat said Hadi’s influnce was waining.

“If you don’t believe it, go to the Rusila mosque on Friday. See how many people gather there now. There used to be thousands, but now there are only 400-500 people,” he said. – September 1, 2022.