Pakatan: Trojan Horse Rising
(WFOL) – In the year 2002, the chief editor of Wfol.tv wrote an article entitled Mahathir’s Trojan Horse. The article was about attempts by Tun Mahathir, then Prime Minister of Malaysia; to drown the Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS).
The trojan horse was unleashed but it failed in its target. Today, another trojan horse is on its way to the PAS with the intent to break it or bring it to chew in the Barisan National’s (BN) barn.
In the present context, the trojan horse has the support of insiders who are trying to break the PAS alliance with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR). As a backdrop, it is vital to know the entire political scenario is however based on the so called need for Malay unity which is being pushed forward by many Muslim NGO’s and politicus. They believe a Muslim unity government with the PAS and the United Malays National Organization (Umno) is the answer to the problems faced by Muslims in this majority Muslim nation. However frail this unity may be due to the intricate and difficult merging process of the hearts and souls from the PAS with the Umno is not of consideration to the ‘brokers’ of the marriage of convenience that is about to be witnessed in Malaysia.
In the recent days, we have seen the outburst of the media, the pro-Umno blogs and even to a certain degree; the blind support of opposition members (at least some of them) with regards to the arrest of the former Mufti of Perlis Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin by the Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS). This arrest gave Asri instant fame. He has even garnered support on social networkings with ‘fan’ clubs on his name and in support of his ’cause’ getting unexpected memberships.
The first question to ask in this matter is why this instant ‘noodle’ fame with the support coming from BN members and BN controlled media?
The politicization of the Islamic cultural debate in Malaysia has now entered a new phase. The former Perlis Mufti is ready to join politics if he is not allowed to speak at ‘Islamic’ forums, so said the news media in Malaysia on Tuesday 10th November. He added though that he is not interested to join politics as he is more interested in the ‘Islamic’ matters but would enter politics if he was forced to.
Indeed he will be joining a PR party, probably the Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and this is indicative after his ‘formal’ and so called ‘private’ visit to the office of the Chief Minister of Kelantan, Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat.
Asri’s sudden rise in popularity in the local press and his defence by pro-Barisan National (BN) elements and bloggers could be the begining of the end of the PR, at least as we know it today. The reason for this is that Asri’s coming to the folds of the PR – which is in the making – will cause commotions and his probable entry in the PAS will rather bring more support to the pro-Umno factions and not the pro-Pakatan factions. Asri could be the ‘trojan’ horse in desguise and this is possible since the PR seems to be the group that grabs everything that is ‘popular’ be it an instant and a calculative popularity in the process.
