‘Open secret that some in PAS want to push Malay agenda’
(The Rakyat Post) – A storm in a teacup.
That is how Monash University’s political analyst Professor James Chin (pic) has described the recently leaked message written by PAS central committee member Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki that the party was pushing for a Malay-Muslim agenda.
While others in society are getting riled up over the revelations, Chin said despite the manner it was revealed, the issue of PAS being exposed was nothing new to the people as they were aware of it.
“It is an open secret. Everyone aware of the political climate in the country knows that there is a faction within PAS which is keen to push for the Malay supremacist agenda,” he said when contacted today.
When asked whether the issue would affect the people’s support in Pakatan Rakyat given the current turmoil it is going through, Chin said it would not change anything as it was not the main issue.
“The main issue at the moment is the possible change in the Menteri Besar’s post and that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is the last roadblock for Pakatan Rakyat to get through before a change can occur.”
Chin said at the moment there was a lot of movement behind the scenes in getting Hadi to change his mind over his insistence to back embattled Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to remain as Selangor Menteri Besar.
“And this goes back to the same PAS faction that also does want a woman to assume leadership in the state as they have never elected any woman for any leadership post within the party itself.”
He said this when referring to the recent decision by PKR to replace Abdul Khalid and nominate PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to fill the post.
Meanwhile, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) political analyst Associate Prof Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said that the leaked message could only affect the people’s support for Pakatan as it added on to the current political instability in Selangor.
He said the people were hoping someone would settle the problem over the Menteri Besar quickly.
Sivamurugan said the sooner the issue was settled, the better it would be for Pakatan.
“The continuous instability will affect them certainly as the leadership crisis is getting worse now, as it is becoming a crisis of confidence within Pakatan.
“The trust among coalition members, especially between PAS and PKR, by utilising social media as a tool to propagate their political agenda, is also a key.”
On Monday, Malaysiakini ran a report about a leaked screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation that revealed PAS leaders were mulling the possibility of leaving the Opposition coalition to join forces with Umno and form the Selangor state government.
One of the alleged messages by Mohd Zuhdi, who is also the PAS Research Centre operations director, read that if DAP, the church and non-Muslims continued to harp on religious raids or the Allah issue, they could then get back at them.
It also said by year-end it could return the Malay-Muslim political power in the state.
