The prince and the frog
If Hadi insists to go his way, he will risk sending PAS into disintegration, which means the Terengganu faction will lose its dominance.
By TAY TIAN YAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily
Najib seems to be more profound in his thinking than Muhyiddin.
Instead of squarely rejecting the candy from PAS' Hadi Awang, he accepts it in delight, and appears to be more than ready to engage in the "unity government" game with Hadi.
So, you're the King, and I'm going to be the General. If you're the Prince, then I'll play the Frog.
And as the frog will never become the prince, we will see how the drama is going to be played.
Hadi Awang, Nasharuddin Mat Isa and Mustafa Ali are the president, deputy president and secretary-general of PAS respectively. They all belong to the so-called Terengganu faction.
With the support of fundamentalists and ulamas, the Terengganu faction is in firm grip of PAS.
Politically, the Terengganu faction has not been performing up to the mark over the past ten years. Hadi only served as a single-term Terengganu menteri besar before he was removed from office, while Terengganu PAS fumbled badly in the last two general elections.
It is indeed very difficult for the Hadi camp to recapture the Terengganu state administration, save for the help from some external forces.
Take for example, the prince is utterly dejected after being transformed into a frog, and has vowed to turn back into its human form again. But to do this, he will need a loving kiss from the princess to complete the process.
Will UMNO be that princess he's been waiting for?
UMNO is now suffering a crisis as its Malay support base thins. Among the Malays, the party only manages to hang on to slightly more than half.
If the party can garner more Malay votes through PAS, then its crisis will be half solved.
Under the banner of Malay unity, UMNO will tighten its grip on the federal administration, and PAS will share federal and state administrations with UMNO.
Hadi stands good chances of being reinstated as Terengganu MB, even deputy PM.
On first look, it seems that the solution works perfectly well for both parties.
But, there are simply too many things we need to take into consideration and computation in politics.
The Kelantan camp within PAS is not going to give up so easily, provided that Nik Aziz and Husham Musa are still around, even though their influences are rapidly fading.
In addition, there are still many grassroots in PAS who cannot get along with UMNO. They are leaning towards Pakatan, and will fight alongside Nik Aziz to resist the formation of any "unity government."
If Hadi insists to go his way, he will risk sending PAS into disintegration, which means the Terengganu faction will lose its dominance.
As for UMNO, it still needs to come to terms with other BN component parties, and risks losing non-Malay support.
More importantly, UMNO and PAS are standing on the same tectonic plate, fighting for the same chunk of Muslim-Malay votes, contesting in the same constituencies and sharing the same Cabinet cake.
Unless UMNO is willing to relinquish part of its power and resources, including assembly seats, state administrations and ministerial posts, it will be hard to bring the duo together.
For the frog to turn into a human prince, he will still need that genuine kiss from the princess. But for the time being, they are at best exchanging only eye movements. As for whether they are able to come together in the future, we have yet to see their own intentions as well as the willingness of other members of their familles to accept the marriage.
