PAKATAN Harapan will ask voters in the Malacca elections to restore the coalition to power in the state under the administration of former chief minister Adly Zahari, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said today.

PH won the state in the 2018 general election with 15 of the 28 seats in the state assembly but the government collapsed following the defection of Pengkalan Batu assemblyman Norhizam Hassan Baktee and Rembia assemblyman Muhammad Jailani.

“The Malacca (elections) will not be just a state referendum but it will have many implications for national politics. One important issue will be Prime Minister Ismail Sabri’s slogan of Keluarga Malaysia,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said in a statement.

Pakatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin announced earlier this week that the pact will be fielding a candidate for all the 28 state seats and that it is prepared to face Umno in multi-cornered fights.

Meanwhile, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said his party will stand alone under the Barisan Nasional banner at the polls.

“We do not know whether all this is mere posturing by the PN and BN parties, but it is important that come what may, Pakatan Harapan be prepared for all eventualities on nomination day and the Malacca elections,” Lim said.

He added that the state elections will be a test of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ initiative.

“Has Ismail Sabri experienced a change of heart after he became prime minister or will his Keluarga Malaysia slogan go the way of the 1Malaysia slogan of the previous Umno prime minister of Malaysia?” he asked.

While Ismail had always been the antithesis of the Keluarga Malaysia slogan he now professed to uphold, Lim said Malaysians should give him a chance to prove he was capable of growth, change and subordinating all his other interests to the overriding national interest.

The state assembly was dissolved on October 4 after four assemblymen withdrew support for chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali.

Polling day is set for November 20 with nominations on November 8. – October 23, 2021.