Can Pas really compromise?
By promising this, the DAP debunked suspicions that it was going to place more Malay candidates in Perak to allow its representative to become the menteri besar of the state which it failed to do in 2008 despite having the most number of seats among the PR components.
Shamsul Akmar, NST
If it were the days of yore, it is doubtful Datuk Zaid Ibrahim-led Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air (Kita) would dare to offer a Rolls Royce to anyone who can produce an (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim look-alike.
Then, at a time when Malays believed in the existence of hantu raya, the equivalent of the West’s doppelganger, the evil double, Kita and Zaid would definitely end up without or one Rolls Royce less.
Back in present times, when beliefs in the supernatural are usually met with watery smiles if not outright derision, Kita’s offer is made to mock Anwar and his supporters who firmly believe he is not the man in the sex video recording.
In present times when science can evoke past crimes and solve them, surely the mystery of the sex video recording should have been resolved by now using video and imaging experts for the accusers to prove that it is Anwar, or for Anwar to disprove that it is him.
While the majority of Malays are still trapped in the debate on whether it was Anwar or otherwise, the DAP, partner of Anwar-led Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) had not been sitting idle nor been dragged into the debate extensively.
It has taken definitive measures to reach out to the Malays, promising to field more candidates from the community in the general election and set up Roketkini, a Malay language news portal.
These efforts are meant to get more Malays to join the DAP which in effect will shed the party’s Chinese chauvinistic image.
More interesting is the announcement by the party’s central executive committee to endorse Perak DAP’s support for the reappointment of Pas’ Datuk Seri Mohamed Nizar Jamaluddin as menteri besar if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) recaptures the state.
By promising this, the DAP debunked suspicions that it was going to place more Malay candidates in Perak to allow its representative to become the menteri besar of the state which it failed to do in 2008 despite having the most number of seats among the PR components.
This is due to the provision in the Perak state constitution, which requires the menteri besar to be a Malay Muslim, hence, the elevation of Nizar to the coveted post despite Pas having the smallest number of seats within PR.
Even then, it was something the DAP had shown its displeasure at.
By endorsing Nizar before the election is called, the DAP has shown “good faith” to Pas and in effect convinced the Malays in Perak that even if the DAP wins the biggest number of seats and has Malay candidates to take up the menteri besar’s post, it is not going to insist on its “right”.
With one stroke the DAP has portrayed itself as magnanimous to both the Malays and Pas.
If Nizar and especially Pas, did not feel grateful to the DAP in the last general election when Nizar became the menteri besar because the DAP did not have much of a choice, this time around, they will have to be grateful. Of course the whole thing is still hypothetical as Nizar needs to win his seat first and PR needs to win the state.
But even if both or either loses, the gratitude that Pas must feel towards the DAP should know no bounds.
Yet, in politics, anything forfeited must result in gains.
The DAP will definitely gain much from this magnanimity — it can be assured of Pas’ support if it fielded Malay candidates.
In the past, it would be difficult for Pas, for that matter any Malay, to give their support to DAP’s Malay candidates because these candidates would have been seen to be Malays who had compromised their Malay and Islamic values.
In fact, much as it is easier for Pas and other Malays who opposed the Barisan Nasional and Umno to vote for DAP’s non-Malay candidates, to vote for DAP’s Malay candidates conjures a different consideration.
In the past, one of the problems faced by Pas in working with or supporting the DAP is that the latter is secular and opposed to Pas’ Islamic pursuits.
Likewise, DAP had always been reluctant to work and support Pas because it is theocratic and wanted an Islamic state.
But in the last couple of general elections, Pas was prepared to work and support the DAP on the struggle for common and universal values while the issues of Islamic state and secularism were avoided.
Even though DAP remains avowedly secular, Pas’ preparedness to dilute its Islamic pursuits had allowed both to work together.
But now, the question of supporting DAP’s Malay candidates throws open the issue of whether Pas can support Malays who would surely be secular and opposed to an Islamic state and everything else that comes along with it.
This is on the basis that any Malay who joins DAP must surely subscribe to the party’s principles that are based on secularism and opposed to anything theocratic, in this context, the Islamic state.
If Pas’ objection to working with Umno is centred on the latter’s alleged secularism, how is Pas going to reconcile with supporting DAP Malays who have to be committed secularists and opposed to its Islamic state?
The manner Pas has evolved, such matters seem to be only of consequence in a distant past, making some Malays, including from its own midst, to wonder whither its direction, something it will have to grapple with sooner than later.
Meanwhile, DAP is definitely on a roll.
