Pakatan fears PAS puritans putting non-Muslim vote at risk

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Jan 23, 2013

(The Malaysian Insider) – There is concern among Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) rank-and-file that PAS risks losing the pact’s non-Muslim vote in Election 2013 due to the Islamist party’s puritanical restrictions for the word “Allah” and its gender-segregation policies in Kedah and Kelantan.

Several PR leaders and lawmakers have admitted the controversies are hurting the pact’s image ahead of the polls due by June, but hope discreet dialogue will blunt the conservative Islamists’ influence in PAS policies.

DAP national chairman Karpal Singh asked PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang over the weekend to get the party’s top policy-making body ― the Majlis Syura ― to reverse its ruling that the Arabic word “Allah” could not be translated to or from other languages as it is specifically used by Muslims to refer to God.

“The recent ruling by the council that the word ‘Allah’ cannot be used by non-Muslims contradicts the position taken by the leadership of Pakatan component parties,” Karpal had said, adding it would affect his fellow Sikhs as the word appears in their holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib.

Pointing out that elections are around the corner, the Bukit Gelugor MP said the PAS-led Kedah government should stop “rocking the boat” by issuing guidelines on dress codes for women as it did recently for Chinese New Year celebrations in the state.

The ruling has since been modified for cultural events but caused some ripples among the non-Malays and has become a campaign issue for Barisan Nasional (BN) parties.

DAP Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching had slammed PAS over the Kedah Chinese New Year guidelines, saying the policy would sabotage PR’s polls preparations by alienating Chinese support.

A PAS leader who declined to be named admitted that the party’s conservative stance would have an effect on support from the non-Muslim electorate.

“There is an impact and we have to mitigate it,” he said, adding the conservatives held sway as they controlled the party’s top leadership.