A BERSATU supreme council member has insisted the support Perikatan Nasional (PN) received in the last general election (GE15) was from all Malays and not just PAS supporters as asserted by detractors. 

Mohd Rafiq Mohd Abdullah said the term “green wave” used to describe the support PN received was solely intended to scare non-Malay voters in urban areas. 

The colour green has been closely associated with PAS and the “green wave” was seen as a sign of its growing popularity in the peninsula following the federal election last year. 

“This is a tagline that DAP is trying to use to scare the Chinese in the city… for the record, green wave is not our tagline, and has never been our tagline. 

“The first person to mention the green wave was DAP’s Lim Kit Siang,” Mohd Rafiq told The Malaysian Insight. 

The head of the Sungai Buloh Bersatu division, however, said he refused to be caught up with the term, stressing that it would not be a part of any slogan. 

“We don’t use the term green wave; we even decided that Selangor is a Bersatu state; the menteri besar if PN wins will be appointed from Bersatu with the approval of the Sultan of Selangor. 

“The term green wave was not promoted by PAS or Bersatu. We do not want to be trapped. We use the term ‘New Selangor’ for Selangor,” he said. 

Mohd Rafiq said he was confident that the momentum gained in GE15 would help PN face the state elections. 

PN currently comprises three parties: PAS, Gerakan, and Bersatu. 

In addition to Selangor, the five other states that will hold elections are Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Penang, Terengganu, and Kelantan. 

Selangor and Negri Sembilan will become Bersatu-led states while Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu will remain PAS-led states if PN wins. 

Mohd Rafiq expects the momentum of Malay support for PN to even increase in the next general election. 

“That momentum is proven by the people who voted for us, not just PAS – statistically the Malays, the ‘Malay wave’ term is more correct. 

“The people who voted for us were not just PAS people; it was all the Malay people. 

“We got almost 58% of Malay votes for PN (GE15) and we are confident that in this state election the percentage of Malay votes for PN will increase to maybe 80%,” he said. 

Sources told The Malaysian Insight that the PN leadership had discussed whether they would use “green wave” in their slogan in a previous meeting. 

PN, however, seemed to think that Pakatan Harapan (PH) was using the term to scare voters. 

The coalition will organise a series of talks – which kicked off last Sunday at Tanjong Karang – throughout Selangor known as the New Selangor Tour. 

It will attempt to trigger a wave of change in favour of PN after it successfully captured six parliamentary constituencies in the state in GE15. 

The parliamentary seats are: Sungai Besar, Sabak Bernam, Tanjong Karang, Hulu Selangor, Kuala Langat, and Kapar. 

PN won 74 parliamentary seats in GE15, sweeping all the seats in Kelantan and Terengganu and wresting Perlis from Barisan Nasional (BN) for the first time. 

PAS, which won 49 parliamentary seats, became the party with the greatest number of parliamentary seats in the Dewan Rakyat. 

BN only got 30 seats but was able to combine with PH and Sabah and Sarawak parties to form the unity government. 

Following that, Lim urged the Anwar Ibrahim administration to implement reform and reconstruct so as not to sink into the tide of “PAS’s green wave”. 

He also feared that Malaysia would become a fully Islamic country within the next 10 years. – June 6, 2023.