PAS should be banned?

Art Harun

And so, it needs no further proof that political assemblies could churn out rationalities which could sit anywhere between the state of burlesque and the city of grotesque. Just look at the recently concluded PAS muktamar.

Apparently in Malaysia, no political assembly could be completed — and probably regarded as meaningful — without the usual mega important gimmick or resolution. In Malaysian politics, perhaps the two are even one and the same. Hence the unsheathing of the keris and the subsequent kissing of it during the Umno general assembly. That was the gimmick. That was to be followed by the usual we-are-the-Malays-and-we-have-our-rights-and-don’t-challenge-us-or-else-we-would-run-amok rants. That was the resolution. After that, everybody had tea and curry puffs and went home.

The PAS assembly this year will be remembered for exactly two things. And no. It won’t be remembered for some blueprint on how the Malaysian economy would be brought out from the global economic doldrums or the likes. Not for any grand plan for the promotion of Islam as a peaceful and total way of life too. Rather it will be remembered for the “unity government” debate (this I suppose, is Hadi’s equivalent to Najib’s 1 Malaysia thingy) and the call for the banning of Sisters In Islam (this I think is PAS’s answer to the unofficial banning of black T-shirts and the act of holding candles by the Home Ministry).

Apparently, what PAS had actually demanded was not the banning of SIS. PAS was asking that SIS should not be named as such because SIS is not very Islamic. The PAS Youth wing is reported by a Malaysiakini report to have said that SIS should be changed to Sisters in Malaysia if it wishes to pursue “universal rights which are subjective” and at the same time questioning Islamic principles as stated in the Quran and hadiths.

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