Husam vows no cooperation with Umno
(Reuters) – An influential figure from Malaysia's Islamist opposition who is running for a top party post vowed on Monday to distance his party from the country's ruling coalition.
Husam Musa, vice president of the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), is to run as deputy president of the party in elections early next month, in what has been billed as a battle between reformers and conservatives in the religious party.
Victory for Husam, 49, could thwart attempts by the main ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), to woo PAS away from the three-party opposition headed by Anwar Ibrahim.
"Umno's sins in our country's politics are too many, and change for them cannot be done through any form of cooperation between us and Umno, except for a total replacement," Husam told reporters after announcing his bid for the post.
Umno is the lead party in the National Front coalition that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years, but which suffered an unprecedented setback in national and state elections in 2008.
Many in Umno had been banking on a pact with PAS to bolster the Front and prevent Anwar's People's Alliance from winning power in elections due by 2013.
Victory for Husam and the reformers, who model themselves on ruling Turkish AK Party and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, an Islamist movement that successfully won power at the ballot box, would narrow options for Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Najib, who assumed office in early April, has struggled to manage a botched takeover of an opposition-run state while trying to turn around the ailing coalition and steer the country away from a recession.
PAS holds 24 out of 222 seats in parliament and claims to be the second-largest party in the country next to Umno in terms of mass membership.
Umno and PAS are the main players representing the country's majority Malay Muslims, who make up 55 per cent of the Southeast Asian nation's 27 million population, and who are the key segment in any general election.
A highly conservative Islamic party that wants an Islamic state, PAS had never managed to broaden its appeal beyond its rural Malay strongholds until 2005.
That changed when a group of urbane PAS leaders supportive of Anwar and led by Husam, a trained economist, won key posts in the party on promises to project a more moderate image.
Najib's predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, initiated talks with PAS leaders after the 2008 polls to form a pact that would have strengthened the National Front. News of the talks leaked, stoking arguments in PAS between those suspicious of Anwar and others opposed to working with Umno.
Husam said Indonesia's Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which suffered a slide in popularity in last month's general elections, was an example of what could happen to PAS if the cooperation issue was not settled.
"PKS suffered a drop in support in Indonesia's election as a result of PKS reaching out to the family of Suharto and to Golkar, seen by voters as a signal that it was not going to undertake extensive political change," Husam said.
"Anyone who is too liberal towards Umno is therefore unacceptable. PAS' role is to be centrist, not to protect Umno," he said.
