ISSUES related to Malay rights, religion and racial sentiments were of concern at the PKR Special National Congress as Pakatan Harapan (PH) prepares for the state elections, the delegates said.

They told The Malaysian Insight that issues pertaining to the Malays were constantly raised during the debate in Shah Alam yesterday.

Kelantan PKR representative Nurazri Mohd Arrifin said the debate centred on PH’s failure to win the support of Malay voters in last year’s general election.

He said that was evident in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah.

He said PKR and PH have to face the challenge of convincing the coalition to empower the Malays, without denying the rights of other communities.

“These are the challenges PKR and PH need to face as they are now back in government,” he said.

“From the analysis of the general election results, we find that there was rejection from the east coast states, where the majority of Malay voters are.

“These people don’t see that PH is also fighting for religion and race. So in this congress, we are indeed focusing on Malay empowerment and Bumiputera rights and religion.

“We need to convince all Malaysians that our party is made up of different races and fights for their rights.”

The delegates’ debate was followed by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s policy speech, where he criticised those driving racial sentiments at this time.

Anwar also assured that the rights of Malays, Muslims and Bumiputeras will be better protected under a unity government.

On Friday, he ordered security forces to be on alert and immediately act on any party that plays on racial and religious sentiments.

On dealing with racial issues before the state polls, another representative said PKR needs to be more aggressive in approaching voters.

Penang PKR representative Muhammad Fadzli Roslan said it was mentioned during the debate that they needed to approach rural Malay voters with correct information.

“Among the things discussed was that the representation of some of our states needs to be controlled by the Malays,” he said.

Fadzli said PH needs to be more aggressive in approaching this community because many Malay voters are in favour of Perikatan Nasional.

“The question is, how do we take control of these states by approaching the Malays without excluding other communities,” he said.

“This message needs to reach them because they always think that PH, PKR do not help the Malays.”

He, however, said the situation is different and it is proved by the various provisions announced in Budget 2023 for the people.

Another representative said the racial issue that was raised was not an attempt for PKR to solely champion the rights of the Malays.

PKR Youth deputy head Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim said it was also not because the party was not confident of winning the support of the Malays.

On the contrary, he said, efforts must be made to prevent Malay voters from continuing to be fed with wrong information.

“What we want is to become champions through the implementation of policies, and not just shouting about saving the Malays,” he said. – March 19, 2023.