Loke: PAS using DAP as bogeyman to hoodwink Barisan voters

Gaining support: Loke in Kuala Terengganu with Barisan’s members.

KUALA TERENGGANU: PAS is afraid of shadows, says DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke in response to the Islamist party’s latest brickbat against DAP and its ally Barisan Nasional in the Terengganu polls.

PAS, part of the Perikatan Nasional coalition, said yesterday that DAP’s support for Barisan will cause the latter’s hardcore members to switch to Perikatan.

Deputy PAS Commissioner III Datuk Dr Alias Razak said the party would campaign on the theme that if Terengganu voters chose Barisan, they would get DAP.“If they said this, then they are out of ideas. The ones contesting (in Terengganu) are Barisan, there are only a few Pakatan candidates,” Loke said in Pekan Cina here, yesterday.

“There is not one DAP candidate. How is it that if you vote for Barisan, you get DAP? Don’t talk down to voters. Argue maturely. This is just (PAS’) attempt to hoodwink voters,” he added.

Loke was in Kuala Terengganu to attend a dinner with Barisan and Pakatan Harapan candidates contesting in the Terengganu state polls. The Transport Minister also went on a walkabout at the historic enclave of Pekan Cina in the Bandar state constituency.

In an earlier statement, Dr Alias said that Loke’s presence in Kuala Terengganu would boost support for Perikatan. He claimed that hardcore Umno and Barisan supporters could not accept that their party was now working with DAP in the federal unity government formed after the 15th General Election (GE15).

Umno leads Barisan while DAP is part of Pakatan and both were rivals during GE15. Before GE15, Umno’s leaders had openly declared that they would never work with DAP or Pakatan’s chairman, now Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“Loke’s presence now confirms and makes it easy for us to explain that if you vote BN, you get DAP,” Dr Alias said.

In response, Loke said PAS and Terengganu voters had nothing to fear from him or DAP.

“I am the Transport Minister. I visited Dungun when we were launching one of the tunnels for the ECRL project. The Terengganu Mentri Besar himself welcomed me,” Loke said, referring to Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, who is from PAS.

Last month, Loke visited Kelantan, also governed by PAS, to launch a station on the ECRL line.

“PAS has been in Terengganu for a long time, where it is strong. What is so scary about the DAP? These people are scared of shadows,” he said.