PAS and the Chinese community

The results of Permatang Pasir by-election which saw PAS retain the seat with its sizeable majority intact exposes certain voting patterns which speak more of people’s dislike for BN than any active favouritism for Pakatan Rakyat, or at least, PAS.

This is especially so in the case of ethnic Chinese voters, which made up over a quarter of the total voting population in Permatang Pasir. With the ethnic Malay vote likely split between BN and PAS, the latter could not have won in the way it did without garnering most of the Chinese votes – in fact, analysis of the ballot boxes or “peti undi” in the by-election showed that the PAS candidate won handsomely in Chinese-dominated areas. READ MORE