As KT race tightens, Pas turns its attention to Malay vote (Kuala Terengganu Election)

With less than 48 hours left before polling day in the crucial Kuala Terengganu by-election, Pas today injected the controversial issue of teaching Mathematics and Science in English into the campaign in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Malays, who constitute the biggest majority in the seat and whose conservative slant and preference for the national language the party hopes will boost their support on polling day in an increasingly tight race to the end.

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders, led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Pas president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, received a memorandum this afternoon from a coalition of Malay NGOs opposing the move to continue with the use of English language.

Mathematician, Dr Shahrir Mohd Zain led the delegation of the Malay NGOs at the event organised by a local pro-Monarchy group Mampat.

Both Anwar and Hadi in their speeches told the crowd that their opposition to the policy did not mean they are against the move to improve English language proficiency among the Malaysian public.

“The Malay language used to be the lingua franca in the region, and it has been used for ages to disseminate knowledge,” said Hadi to the largely Malay audience.

Since Monday, Pas, who is fielding Wakaf Mempelam assemblyman Abdul Wahid Endut, has been lagging in the campaign for the Malay vote after Umno launched an intensive attack against the Islamists by saying the party has toned town its stand on Islamic issues to accommodate its more secular partners in the opposition alliance.

Both the PR and the BN campaigns have been concentrating their resources on the Chinese, who make up some 11per cent of voters, on the assumption that the Malay vote was equally split.

But after Umno moved a few days ago to attack Pas’s conservative credentials, the complexion of the race has now towards the Malay vote.

A Muslim student body, PKPIM, which was part of today's initiative, said they approached all political parties to bring up the issue of English in schools.

“Pakatan leaders agreed to receive the memorandum here,” said its executive councillor, Abu Qassim.

Pas election director Datuk Mustafa Ali said the move was not a last minute attempt to win the Malay electorates.

He said that Pas has its own way in dealing with Umno's latest campaign, but admitted that the race is still tight.

“It has nothing to do with intensified Umno's campaign. We have planned this for some time,” Mustafa told The Malaysian Insider.

Introduced in 2003, the policy was aimed at improving the standard of English among Malaysian students. However the move was widely opposed by Malay nationalists and Chinese educationists, both groups claiming that the move would erode their culture and language.

- themalaysianinsider.com