PAS must think hard before making Ahmad Zahid GE16 'poster boy', says activist

KUALA LUMPUR – PAS, as the dominant party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) alignment, should think very carefully before settling on Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the 'poster boy' for the 16th General Election (GE16), political activist Lokman Bonyamin said.

He said this was because Ahmad Zahid was nearly rejected by voters in his own Bagan Datuk constituency at the last general election over corruption allegations.

According to Lokman, if BN-PN wants to win GE16, it will have to put forward a poster boy for the public to consider, as the question of a prime ministerial candidate is very important in that election.

"Therefore, if BN-PN puts Ahmad Zahid forward as poster boy, it will certainly invite public rejection and this will give an advantage to Pakatan Harapan (PH)," he said today. (Quote translated from Bahasa Melayu.)

Lokman said BN and PN could instead reach an understanding and cooperate electorally without forming a formal coalition, an approach aimed at avoiding overlapping seats contested by both sides.

"With that, each party is free to present its own poster boy. The question of the prime ministerial candidate would only be negotiated after the GE16 results are known," he said.

Ahmad Zahid had earlier offered a sarcastic response to a statement by Parti Wawasan Negara (Wawasan) secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah, who proposed Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin as prime minister after GE16. The BN chairman said Wawasan was still in the phase of emerging as a new entity in the national political arena.

Lokman said the proposal to name Hamzah was Saifuddin's personal view and did not necessarily reflect the stand of any coalition or other party.

On former UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin's claim that projections point to Ahmad Zahid becoming the 11th prime minister should his party join PH and dominate the government after GE16, Lokman said every party had the right to determine its own political approach — whether to contest solo or to work with others.

"That decision can be made before GE16, while any further cooperation or the formation of a government after the election depends on the GE16 results and negotiations among the parties involved," he said.