At PAS ulama meet, cracks form that may fracture Pakatan
Yesterday’s resolution calling for the party to return to its Islamic struggle and the strengthening of ulama leadership in the party — with a resolution for the president and his deputy to come from the faction — are signs that Islamic conservatism was making a return in PAS.
Syed Jaymal Zahiid, The Malay Mail
Deep-seated ideological differences within Pakatan Rakyat resurfaced yesterday when the influential ulama faction from PAS renewed calls for the Islamist party to relook ties with partner PKR and the federal opposition pact.
The call, ostensibly to protect the party’s interest and mitigate an unnamed harm, was made as part of eight resolutions passed at a convention held by its clergy class in Kedah yesterday, during which it also called for PAS’s two top posts to be reserved for the ulama.
The meeting, dubbed Multaqa Ulama Se-Malaysia (Convention of Malaysia’s Ulama) further demanded that the members of the group be given government posts in PR-run states in an unprecedented move that suggests discontent over the lack of recognition accorded to a class that forms a powerful bloc in PAS.
“The Malaysian ulama multaqa… suggests that the co-operation with its allies in Pakatan Rakyat, especially PKR, is revised by the syura council and the PAS central committee through its given powers in a bid to protect our interests and contain and mitigate the negativity,” read the resolution carried by the party’s online organ, harakahdaily.com.
The resolution did not explain what it meant by “negativity” but party sources told The Malay Mail Online that the term was more than likely used in reference to the “Allah” controversy.
The “Allah” row first erupted in 2008 when the Home Ministry threatened to ban a Christian newspaper permit for using the Arabic term to describe the Catholic god, prompting the Catholic Church to sue the government for violating its Constitutional rights.
A 2009 High Court decision upholding the Catholic Church’s constitutional right to use the word “Allah” had shocked Muslims who considered the word to only refer to their God. It also led to Malaysia’s worst religious strife, with houses of worship throughout the country coming under attack.
The matter is currently before the Court of Appeal.
Both PKR and the DAP, two other component parties in PR, had supported the right of non-Muslims to use the Arabic word that they argued predates Islam.
But PAS was divided on the issue, with the ulama claiming “Allah” as the exclusive rights of Muslim while the party’s progressives thought otherwise.
The quagmire had subjected PAS to intense attack by political rivals who accused the party of deviating from Islamic teachings and compromising its Islamist credentials for political expediency.
The assault intensified in the run up to the May 5 general election. In the aftermath, PAS, the oldest opposition party in PR with a membership far surpassing that of its allies, won only 21 seats, seven less than what it garnered in Election 2008.
Among the casualties suffered by PAS in the 13th general elections were the defeat of several of its progressive leaders, including deputy president Mohamad Sabu who lost the Pendang race in his homestate of Kedah and vice-president Salahuddin Ayub who was defeated in Pengerang, Johor.
Party sources said the defeat could push the ulama back into the forefront of PAS leadership in a move that could jeopardise the party’s relation with its allies in PR.
Yesterday’s resolution calling for the party to return to its Islamic struggle and the strengthening of ulama leadership in the party — with a resolution for the president and his deputy to come from the faction — are signs that Islamic conservatism was making a return in PAS.
“Yes it is possible but we have to see if the grassroots would accept this,” said a party leader who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In the last party polls, PAS grassroots overwhelmingly supported the progressives at the ulama faction’s expense, in a tactical move aimed at garnering more non-Malay support in the 13th general election.
The party is scheduled hold its party elections in November and internal sources say the outcome could determine not only PAS’s, but also PR’s future.
