PAS shines brighter after Terengganu storm, analysts say

By admin-s On May 15, 2014

(MM) – Ahmad Said wanted a better retirement package and he got it. What it confirms is the perception that with Umno it is all about money.

By choosing the democratic route over enticing rogue lawmakers to swell its ranks, PAS trumped Umno in the silent battle for political credibility even though the Islamist party lost the chance to take over Terengganu, anaysts said.

Pundits think the public spat in Umno that plunged the east coast state into a two-day leadership crisis only served to showcase PAS as the more principled party.

“They definitely came out looking good and they showed resilience by refusing to succumb to the situation,” Professor Dr Jayum A. Jawan, a political analyst from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), said of the Islamist opposition party.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) government of Terengganu came precariously close to toppling when Datuk Seri Ahmad Said quit Umno scant hours after being replaced as mentri besar on Monday.

In a huff, the Kijal assemblyman and two other state lawmakers declared themselves independent representatives; and turned BN into a minority government for just under 48 hours, with the 13-member coalition seeing its slim 17-seat majority in the 32-seat Terengganu legislative assembly whittled down to 14.

PAS, a member of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition, controls 14 seats in the state while its PKR partner holds the last spot.

Dr Jeneri Amir, a political analyst with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, said that in such a situation reminiscent of the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, it would have been very easy for PAS to take a leaf from its archrival’s playbook to wrest control of the state.

That year, PR was ousted from governing Perak after three of its elected representatives deserted the pact and became BN-friendly independents.

The power tussle landed in court, and ended with the Federal Court ruling in favour of BN.

“I salute PAS for not exploiting the situation. They could have used the precedent set in Perak to ask for a takeover but they didn’t, and rejected them completely and asked for a dissolution (of the state assembly),” said Jeneri.

Independent political analyst Khoo Kay Peng noted that it was not only PAS, but also their PR partners DAP who have come out smelling fresher from the Terengganu debacle compared to their political foes.

He said PAS and fellow PR partner DAP had been firm in their belief that the both the crises in Perak and Terengganu should be resolved through fresh state elections.

“People must respect the democratic process,” Khoo said, even when a situation proved to be to their advantage and they may feel tempted to exploit to for their benefit.

As for Umno, Jayum observed the exchange of apologies between the party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Ahmad to end the Terengganu crisis, which the two leaders labelled a “misunderstanding”, had little meaning.

The UPM don said unhappiness within the Malay party’s ranks continued to seethe under the surface, adding that it was the result of weak leadership both at state and national level.

Khoo shared a similar view, saying Najib has no one but himself to blame for the situation.