DAP will not contest in Kelantan in the next elections, but the party has, of late, been focusing its campaign in the PAS-controlled east coast state.

The party’s supremo, Lim Kit Siang, has been telling voters there that they had to “kill two birds with one stone” by changing both the state and federal governments in the coming general election.

In a dialogue with Pakatan Harapan leaders yesterday in Gua Musang, Kelantan, DAP’s leader in parliament suggested that PAS was losing its grip on the state, which had been the Islamist party’s stronghold for almost 30 years.

“I think PAS may lose power in Kelantan, and PAS’ greatest test in the 14th General election is whether it can retain power in Kelantan, which it won 27 years ago under the leadership of the late Tok Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat,” he said in his speech.

Lim said there were many reasons for Kelantan voters to change the state administration, such as the logging issue that contributed to the flood disaster in 2014, the endemic poverty among the people of the state and state government’s RM1.4 billion debt to the federal government.

Another issue he said was PAS president Hadi Awang’s leadership, which had created a “very different” PAS from the party that won Kelantan in 1990 under Nik Aziz’s leadership, and the party that played a major role in forming Barisan Alternatif in 1999 under the late PAS president Fadzil Noor.

Lim said there was still hope to achieve political change through the electoral process, and voters in Kelantan were capable to changing both the state and federal governments in the general election.

“This should be PH’s 14th General Election objective – to kill two birds with one stone in Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johor, while retaining Penang and Selangor,” he said.

Lim, who is Gelang Patah MP, haS been visiting the East Coast states, including Kelantan, over the Hari Raya period.

In his speeches there, he reminded the people to “come forward to unite to save Malaysia from hurtling headlong towards a failed and rogue state”.

He talked about the biggest scandal in Malaysian history, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and the “cosier relationship” between PAS and Umno.

On the eve of Hari Raya, Hadi reportedly issued an open letter to all political parties, asking them to stop attacking Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is linked to the 1MDB scandal. His letter came after the US Department of Justice filed its latest civil suit to seize assets worth billions of ringgit that were bought with money allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB.

Hadi’s assertion that PAS could take five states – Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Kedah and Selangor – has prompted Lim to question whether PAS could keep Kelantan due to its current leadership and “Umno-friendly” policy or lose its longtime fortress, like it did Terengganu in 2004.

At a Hari Raya event organised by several DAP branches in Kota Baru on Thursday, Lim said he hoped that by Hari Raya next year, Kelantan would have a new state government and menteri besar.

He said he hoped Husam Musa, a former PAS top leader who is now Amanah adviser in Kelantan, would become the state’s new menteri besar. – July 1, 2017.