Fearing to break PAS’s fealty oath, Nash seeks being sacked

Fearing the consequences of being an oathbreaker, PAS lawmaker Nasharuddin Mat Isa is deliberately stirring animosity with DAP allies to force his Islamist party to expel him from its ranks, sources told The Malaysian Insider.

The Bachok MP is suspected to be the chief instigator of quarrels between the two Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners over their mutual disagreement in turning Malaysia into a full-blown Islamic state and introduce Islamic criminal laws nationwide. 

Sources say he is seen to be driving a bigger wedge between the two parties by flagrantly ignoring PAS’s offical stand to set aside all talk of forming an Islamic state and focus on working together with the secular DAP to boost the PR pact’s chance to take federal power at the 13th general election due soon.

“If we see, lately, Nasha has been aggressively pitting PAS and DAP leaders against each other so that Pakatan Rakyat splits. He does all this with the purpose that PAS will sack him and not him leaving PAS.

“Leaving PAS means going against bai’ah, and this may be the main reason why he is not leaving PAS voluntarily,” a senior PAS leader told The Malaysian Insider under condition of anonymity.

Bai’ah is an Arabic term meaning an oath of allegiance that Muslims take to show their loyalty and commitment to their Islamic cause. Muslims believe that those who break bai’ah will suffer divine punishment.

Nasharuddin was PAS deputy president until he was trounced by party colleague and popular rally speaker Mohamad Sabu last year in a three-cornered fight at the PAS election. The religious conservative also ran against Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man who is currently PAS information chief.

Nasharuddin did not respond to The Malaysian Insider despite repeated queries.

The PAS-DAP spat had been widely reported in the mainstream media and was seen to strain ties between the two opposition allies at a crucial time in the run-up to the intense battle for Putrajaya.

But political analyst Prof Datuk Mohamad Abu Bakar told The Malaysian Insider that whatever happens to Nasharuddin will not greatly impact support for PAS.

“To me, what is being done by Nasha is more towards strengthening Umno’s people who are already in Umno,” said the Universiti Malaya (UM) lecturer, referring to the pint-sized lawmaker by his popular moniker in Malay.

He said that even if Nasharuddin quit PAS for Umno, the politician would only likely suffer the fate of other former PAS leaders such as former president Datuk Mohd Asri Muda and former deputy president Nakhaie Ahmad.

“If Nasha joins Umno, he will not gain the full trust from that party because everyone knows his heart and soul is with PAS,” the university don said, citing former Selangor PAS commissioner Datuk Hasan Ali as an example.

Even after being sacked from PAS, Hasan was not welcomed to join Umno but was instead forced to set up Jalur Tiga (Jati), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that fights for Islam, Malays and the royal institution.

PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa questioned Nasharuddin’s sincerity in championing hudud — the controversial Islamic penal code.

“Previously, when trying to convince PAS to join Umno to form a united government, Ustaz Nasha told PAS that Pak Lah wanted to give three ministerial seats if PAS agreed to be with Umno.

“I want to ask him, when Pak Lah offered the three ministerial seats, did he also discuss the implementation of hudud?” Husam told The Malaysian Insider in a phone interview, referring to former prime minister and Umno president Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

In a mocking tone, Husam said that if Umno were truly sincere in having talks with PAS, Nasharuddin should be allowed to stand in the Bachok parliamentary seat unchallenged in the next general election and win.

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