RAJA Kamarul Bahrin Raja Ahmad has refuted talk that the Pakatan Harapan leadership in Terengganu is weak, saying he is a gentle leader.

He said he used the soft approach to woo young voters in the east coast state, unlike PAS and Barisan Nasional that had been aggressive and noisy for the last 60 years.

“We are not aggressive like PAS. If we get angry, call this and that haram (forbidden), force others to listen to us, then people will ask what the difference between PAS and PH is.

“So, let people say that I am not hard (on others). This soft approach will woo voters who are politically mature. Youths and those who are not BN and PAS fanatics will come to us better,” he told The Malaysian Insight in Terengganu.

Raja Kamarul Bahrin, a member of the Terengganu royal house, is the architect behind the design of Masjid Tengku Tengah Zaharah, better known as the Floating Mosque; the Terengganu state museum, and Putrajaya’s Istana Melawati.

He was seen as the “new face of PAS” when he joined the Islamist party in 2013. He was known as the “red carpet candidate” because he was invited to contest in Kuala Terengganu in 2013 without having to join the party struggle or start from the bottom.

But after the 2015 PAS muktamar that booted out the progressive faction, he joined the exodus of PAS members for splinter party Amanah.

He is now PH chief in the state, tasked with breaking the dominance of PAS and BN.

The Kuala Terengganu MP’s leadership style has been criticised by both friend and foe, however.

He is seen to lack the leadership to challenge his former party boss, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

Several state leaders met by The Malaysian Insight felt the same but denied that it was a problem.

“Yes, he is good. But we hope he can be firmer in making decisions,” said a state PH committee member who declined to be named.

State PKR chairman Azan Ismail, the only PH assemblyman in Terengganu, said he had no problems with Raja Kamarul Bahrin.

He also rejected the criticisms of the Amanah leader, denying that there was a huge crisis.

“We are all doing the best for PH and the people in Terengganu,” he said.

There are big hopes for Terengganu, as research outfit Invoke has recently revealed that PH may win all seats held by the Islamist party in the state.

Raja Kamarul Bahrin said he was confident that PH was ready to face the coming polls.

He said there was a silent majority in the state that had been won over by PH and its approach that was unlike PAS or BN’s.

“We have gone to see the people who can support us. They know what it is like under a PAS and a BN government. They are with us.

“Terengganu folk are like this. They are silent. They will only show how they feel when the election comes, just like before,” he said, referring to the 1999 and 2004 elections when the people voted out the incumbent state governments with landslide majorities.

In 1999, PAS won 28 out of 32 state seats to take over the state, but in 2004, the Islamist party lost the same number of seats. – March 25, 2018.