PAKATAN Harapan is betting on a silent protest in Terengganu to give it an edge in its battle against the state’s two political titans – Umno and PAS.

Terengganu PH’s confidence in this wave is based on the numerous PAS members who have quietly pledged their support to the coalition over the past year, said state PH chairman Raja Kamarul Bahrin Raja Ahmad.

He said PH received a boost in support when an audio recording purportedly of PAS’ cooperation with Umno was made public.

“Over the past six months I can feel the impact of silent voters in Terengganu. PAS members and supporters have come to me secretly and pledged to vote (PH).

“I’m more convinced of this after Nik Abduh’s recording made the rounds,” he said.

The audio recording was allegedly of PAS central committee member Nik Muhamad Abduh Nik Aziz in conversation with an Umno leader.

The voice in the recording said PAS had received money from Umno and admitted to working together with the ruling party.

In a February 28 Facebook posting, Nik Abduh, who is also Pasir Mas MP, denied that it was him and called such accusations slander.

In the 13th general election, PAS almost seized Terengganu by winning 14 out of the 32 state assembly seats.

The Islamist party has now intensified its efforts ahead of the 14th general election to wrest the state from BN.

Although parliament has yet to be dissolved, PAS has opened its election operations room under its grassroots unit, Unit Peti Undi (UPU).

The operations room in the Alor Limbat state constituency was launched by Terengganu PAS youth chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad and Terengganu PAS elections director and assemblyman Ariffin Deraman.

The party has also organised pre-dawn special prayers (solar munajat khas) attended by thousands of supporters at the Rusila mosque to pray for victory in GE14.

The prayers were part of its final rally Himpunan Harapan Semua (HARAP 3.8), before campaigning starts for GE14.

A recent survey by The Malaysian Insight found that Terengganu voters believe the political contest in the state is dominated by BN and PAS, while PH is considered the minnow.

PH is made up of PKR, DAP, Bersatu and Amanah. The latter comprises former PAS members who fell out with the party’s conservatives.

Raja Bahrin, who is Kuala Terengganu MP from Amanah, said attacks against him have died down from PAS supporters over the past year.

 “I’m confident that they have started to understand why Amanah was formed. Secretly, they have pledged their support to me.

“I felt like I was still in PAS when they started to approach me secretly. I understand why they can’t openly declare their support because they don’t want to expose themselves to the same attacks by PAS fanatics,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Although he knows it would be an uphill task to unseat either BN or PAS in Terengganu, Raja Bahrin believes that PH would be able to make inroads into BN and PAS strongholds.

“We can win at least two or three parliamentary sets and about 10 to 14 state seats,” he said.

A study by think-tank Invoke recently projected a landslide victory for BN in Terengganu. It predicted PAS and PH would lose all its seats in the state. – March 25, 2018.