PERIKATAN Nasional (PN) can become the new state government in Negri Sembilan by maintaining the momentum of youth support for the coalition from the last general election, former Seremban Umno youth chief Zool Amali Hussin said.

Zool joined PAS recently and is confident that Malay votes will continue to swing to PN because people were disappointed by Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) joining forces to form a unity government.

“We can target the Malay seats in Negri Sembilan and the rest is strategy.

“We won’t be revealing our plans to the public just yet,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Zool is confident that Negri Sembilan will follow the success of PN in Perlis.

He said this shift in sentiment is echoed nationwide, and has been seen in states controlled by PAS – Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu – as well as the main Malay areas in Pahang and Perak.

Zool, 40, left Umno to join PAS with 50 other Umno members from the Kampung Rawa Lenggeng branch because he was disappointed with Umno agreeing to co-operating with PH, not least DAP.

He said the disappointment was also felt by many BN and PH voters.

“During campaigning, PH attacked Umno and vice versa. Now their grassroots supporters, especially the youth, feel deceived. They voted for BN against PH, while PH supporters voted against BN.

“They felt that the leaders violated their rights as voters. They went out to vote (against PH) but in the end both BN and PH are now together.

“That is what will give PN an advantage (in the state polls),” he said.

He said that the campaign to attract youths to PN was made easier after the Umno General Assembly last week when it was decided that the party’s two highest posts would not be open to election.

“In the state polls, we believe that many from PH and Umno will change the minds and their votes will go to one place, which is PN.

“I am happy that there were no elections for Umno president and deputy president, because it is easier now to attract the confused Umno members.

“They don’t know what’s happening. They want to leave the party because they are afraid of being ridiculed, I am sure they will vote for PN,” he said.

Umno members joining PAS

Zool said, about 200 Umno members in Negri Sembilan have joined PAS, since BN chose to support Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister in the new unity government.

He said their membership will officially be accepted by PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang in a PN ceremony scheduled to take place in Seri Menanti, today.

“Every day, many people contact me saying they are interested in joining PN. I said there are two options, either Bersatu or PAS, choose which one they want to join.

“Many of them went for PAS,” he said.

After joining PAS about a month ago, Zool is now planning to establish five branches in his constituency of Lenggeng.

Meanwhile, Zool is confident that PN can win 20 out of 36 state seats in the coming state elections and thus become the new state government.

Some 27 of 36 assembly seats are Malay-majority constituencies, but PN currently has no assemblymen in the state.

“For me it’s easy, the target of 20 seats is enough to command Negri Sembilan,” he said.

PAS targeting young voters

Zool said he is now assigned by the party to spread information, targeting youth and first-time voters.

“We aim to win Negri Sembilan for the PN by holding many campaigns to spread information on PAS.

“On average, the youth (support) has gone to PN. During the last election, for example in Lenggeng, more than half of BN’s traditional support voted for PN.

“The youth rejected Zahid because of his corruption case,” he said, referring to Umno President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s ongoing trials for bribery and money laundering.

Zool was one of the Umno leaders who criticised Zahid, before leaving the party.

“He would not give the Seremban parliamentary seat to Umno in the last election,” he said, adding that he met Zahid about this – MCA has for the past three terms stood against DAP in Seremban – but he said the move failed.

“What’s the use of having Umno in Seremban but it never stands for the seat, despite the desire of the branch members? At that time, we wanted to win, but in the end it didn’t work.

“From 2013 (until I left), I was a representative at the Umno General Assembly. It was more than 10 years and the story was the same: ‘No Anwar, no DAP, DAP is chauvinist, racist…’ but now the party is in the unity government.

“That’s the time we saw that Umno had run away from its basic struggles and created a new narrative with DAP,” he said.

Negri Sembilan last went to the polls during the general election in 2018. BN won 16 assembly seats, with 15 won by Umno and one by MIC.

Meanwhile, PH controls the state with a majority of 20 seats, of which DAP won 11, followed by PKR (6) and Amanah (3).

During November’s general election, BN retained the parliamentary seats of Rembau, Jelebu, Jempol and successfully seized Kuala Pilah and Tampin, while Seremban, Rasah, and Port Dickson remained with PH. – January 20, 2023.