PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil asked today if PAS was boycotting the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election as its leaders were yet to be seen on the campaign trail

Speaking at a Pakatan Harapan event in Putrajaya last night, Fahmi said PAS leaders were missing in KKB even though Perikatan Nasional is running for the seat.

He said this has put Bersatu in “panic mode”.

“We thought it was Starbucks (and) KFC that were facing a boycott but it seems the PN candidate is also boycotted,” he said, referring to the Malay boycott of US-linked firms accused of supporting Israel.

Fahmi, who is the communications minister, also hit out at opposition leaders for playing up racial and religious issues, such as vernacular schools, in the KKB campaign.

“How many PAS leaders send their children to Chinese schools? I understand that even Hadi’s grandchildren are sent to Chinese schools,” he said, referring to the PAS president.

The opposition had criticised the Pakatan Harapan candidate Pang Sock Tao for attending a vernacular school.

The KKB by-election is a four-cornered fight between Pang, Khairul Azhari Saut (PN/Bersatu), Hafizah Zainuddin (Parti Rakyat Malaysia), and Independent Nyau Ke Xin.

DAP vice-chairman Teresa Kok has urged PN chair and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin to declare the coalition’s stand on vernacular education.

“Over to you, Muhyiddin – declare that Bersatu and PN are not against vernacular education and will not support any attempt to dismantle it,” she was quoted as saying in Malaysiakini.

The Seputeh MP said she had posed the same question to the PN candidate Khairul Azhari Saut but had not received a response.

She said opposition leaders had a record of calling for vernacular schools to be abolished.

“I further challenge Muhyiddin to make a public stand on whether he endorses and supports the PAS information chief’s recent provocative and racist statement on Pang’s vernacular Chinese educational background. Silence is not an option,” she said. – May 2, 2024.