THE huge billboard erected at the Tun Abdul Rahman Yaakub bridge by Hamdan Sani, the PAS candidate for the Petra Jaya federal seat, promises that voters will live “bersejahtera bersama PAS” (harmoniously together with PAS) if the Islamist party is voted in this coming election.

But if the assessment of two political analysts is to be trusted, that promise has already fallen on deaf ears, with PAS expected to suffer even greater losses in this election than it did in 2013.

In 2013, PAS contested as a member of the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition in five seats – Kota Samarahan, Batang Sadong, Tanjong Manis, Igan, and Sibuti.

The party lost in all seats.

In GE14, PAS will be contesting five seats again – the rural Malay-majority seats of Kota Samarahan (Zulkipli Ramzi) and Batang Sadong (Asan Singkro), and new areas like the urban seat of Petra Jaya, the coastal rural seat of Batang Lupar (Narudin Mentali), and the Sibuti seat in Miri (Zulaihi Bakar).

But according to James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania, the party’s efforts will be futile as not only will they fail to secure any seats, candidates are expected to even lose their deposits.

“It’ll be a 100% wipe out and they will all lose their deposits,” Chin said.

The Kuching-born Chin said that “the Malays in Sarawak cannot accept another Muslim party besides PBB (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu)”, and that PAS or any other Malay party will find it difficult to break into Sarawak.

PBB is the leading party in Sarawak’s four-party Barisan Nasional coalition.

The other parties are the Dayak-based Parti Rakyat Sarawak, the Chinese-based Sarawak United People’s Party, and the multi-racial People’s Democratic Party. – May 4, 2018.