PAS Supporters’ Club to the fore

(The Edge) KUALA LUMPUR: Just over 18 months ago, it was almost unthinkable for a Chinese or an Indian to be seen waving the PAS flag. Any support for the Islamist party had to be furtive, with Teresa Teng's evergreen song The Moon Represents My Heart a popular hint of such stance.

But all that has changed. Chinese and Indians now openly show their support for the party that once provoked fear in them.

During the campaign period for the Bukit Gantang by-election, non-Muslims had no qualms whatsoever about wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "PAS For All", while in the fishing community of Kuala Sepetang, more Chinese were seen clad in PAS green than the Malay villagers.

PAS had never enjoyed such a display of support from the non-Muslims, who for the longest time had been overwhelmed by the party's Islamic state agenda and advocacy of hudud law.

While much of the credit for inducing the change in sentiment goes to the liberal faction within the party and ousted Perak menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and his 10-month old administration, the contribution of the PAS Supporters' Club (PSC) has been largely overlooked.

The PSC has been a big factor in changing the non-Muslims' perception of the party. It has been quietly going down to the ground to woo the people, forming a crucial bridge between PAS and the non-Muslims.

Formed just a week before the 2004 general election, in which PAS lost its grip on Terengganu and was trounced at the national level, the PSC's mission was to help PAS gain non-Muslim support and at the same time expound the need of party leaders to understand multi-racialism in the Malaysian context.

With just three founding members, the club now has the support of about 50,000. According to club president Hu Pang Chaw, the Indian members grew after the Hindraf rally, and the club enjoyed another surge of membership post-March 8 last year, at the formation of the tripartite Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance.

Unlike PAS, PSC members do not have voting rights in the party, but there has been talk of the possibility of the club being elevated to a dewan or party wing by next year.

Hu, a Kelantanese, said PAS' fairness and good governance are strong selling points for the party. He is also not too concerned about hudud law.

"We have explained that Islamic laws are only for Muslims just like what is being practised now. They are not forced upon the non-Muslims unless the non-Muslims are willing to subject themselves to the Islamic laws," he said, adding that MCA had failed to explain to the people that hudud law could not be implemented without amending the Federal Constitution.

Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said the model was important. "People look at the leaders in Kelantan and they see them living humbly. There is no Taliban-type of government also. People can accept this," he said, adding that people did not find PAS politicians making racist remarks unlike some Umno politicians.

On the club being attractive, Khoo said: "It is an effect of non-Muslims understanding and accepting the political game in the country, where there is a need to support a Malay-Muslim party that is fair and willing to accommodate."

He said Umno had the perfect platform in Barisan Nasional but failed to capitalise on it as the party took for granted that the votes of the non-Malays, especially the Indians, would always be there.

"Even the Malay constituents have shifted to three different parties (Umno, PAS and PKR)," said Khoo over telephone.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Institute of Ethnic Studies director Professor Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin opined that the PSC represents PR more than PAS.

"The club is important to PR as it can reach the non-members," he said, adding that the outreach programme was not exclusively Islamic, hence people did not feel isolated.

However, Shamsul believed elevating the club status to dewan would not be a good idea.

"Club means 'a friend'. Why become a dewan when club can be as big as the Manchester United Football Club," he said.

Khoo, on the other hand, said the move to elevate the club status to a dewan was good, as it would allow PAS to interact with the non-Muslims at party level.

Whether the PSC gains the dewan status or not, and whether it is more a support vehicle for PR than PAS, the club clearly has become a major force in softening PAS' fundamentalist image and enlarging the party's audience.

The PSC has underscored the merit of engagement across societal divides.