Time Pakatan tells PAS to go

By MT Webmaster Last updated Aug 1, 2014

Pakatan must provide the necessary leadership to break out of the cycle of Islamisation and free the Malay mind. It can only do so if it is free of the PAS’ conservative faction. Therefore, PAS will have to go.

Han Xin, Malay Mail Online

PAS President, Dato Seri Hadi Awang rejecting Pakatan Rakyat’s proposal to replace the Selangor Chief Minister is not an isolated incident of differing opinion amongst the three component parties but part of a series of symptoms that show all is not well in the opposition coalition.

The cause for concern is not just the PAS President acting like an alpha male seeking dominance over its partners but that PAS has jettisoned the “welfare state” concept and the Common Policy Framework upon which it gained entry into Pakatan. It is also that PAS in order to achieve its Islamist agenda is prepared to sleep with the Devil (as revealed by the whatsapp text messages exchanged between the party’s research centre director, Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki and its leaders) to join Umno and Khalid Ibrahim to grab Selangor. It is time for Pakatan to tell its erstwhile partner, it will have to go.

There are three reasons for asking PAS to leave the opposition coalition:-

The first reason is the people have lost confidence in PAS’ commitment to the Pakatan Common Policy Framework. PAS has recanted on the “welfare state” and put the Islamic state and the implementation of “hudud” back on the forefront of its agenda. It changed its stand on several issues previously agreed with Pakatan. One is the PAS Syura Council declaring that non-Muslims cannot use the word “Allah” despite its leaders agreeing earlier to Pakatan’s common stand that there was no such prohibition. Another is the recent PAS proposal to table a parliamentary motion to implement “hudud.”

PAS recent conduct is similar to that of other Islamist parties referred to by author Shadi Hamid in his book, “Temptations of Power: Islamist and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East.” Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, in the prelude to the Arab Spring embraced the tenets of democracy, set aside their dreams of an Islamic state, entered into alliances with secular parties and emphasised de-Islamic laws. However, once voted into government they could not resist the temptations of power, reverted to and implemented their Islamist agenda. However pragmatic they may appear to be, the ultimate goal of Islamists remains the Islamisation of society and of the state. The Muslim Brotherhood’s carrying out its Islamist agenda led to an immediate backlash and the tragic events that saw the same Egyptians that marched with the Muslim Brotherhood joined the military to remove them one year later and elected the General who led the coup, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as president.

Malaysians especially non-Muslims voted PAS in 2008 and 2013 giving it the benefit of the doubt based on the assurances that DAP and PKR can keep PAS on track. This is no longer true. The vision of the Islamic state has returned and it is daunting. The damage is irreversible.

The second reason is that if the people vote for Pakatan they do not want the rude shock of discovering they voted for the appointment of an Islamist Prime Minister. Delegates at both the PAS general assemblies, the 2012 and 2013 Muktamar proposed Hadi to be prime minister if PAS wins a majority. Hadi did not dispel the notion during the GE13 campaign and neither has he declined the latest suggestion. Malaysians do not want a Malaysia Spring ending up with an Islamist authoritarian government like the Egyptians did with Mohammed Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood or in the rush to remove a corrupt BN regime end up like the Iranians in the aftermath of the 1978 Revolution.

What began as an authentic and anti-dictatorial popular revolution based on a broad coalition of anti-Shah forces was soon transformed into an Islamic fundamentalist power-grab. Ayatollah Khomeini then in his mid-70s who said “religious dignitaries do not want to rule” ejected moderates like Mehdi Bazargan, removed adversaries from the political stage and implemented Khomeini’s design of an Islamic Republic led by himself as Supreme Leader. 35 years after the Revolution, Iranians are no better off and do not enjoy more freedom. As Iranian scholar, David Menashri observed, in the Shah’s days it was a crime to speak against him. Today to speak against the Ayatollah is a sin. Iranians do not know which is better.

The third reason is Pakatan must establish an independent ideological and institutional existence that differentiate it from Umno and more importantly resonates with the Malay voters. It is unable to do this due to the differing ideologies of PAS’. The present mixed bag of compromises has restricted Pakatan to a monotonous rhetoric of taking over Putrajaya. DAP and PKR must realize that coalitions motivated only by an office-taking agenda with the only shared common goal of ousting the ruling regime have never succeeded. Such coalitions only lead to increased voter disillusionment and ultimately foment apathy. The opposition in order to represent a credible democratic alternative must articulate a vision that not only attracts all Malaysians but also able to entice the Malays to throw away the Umno crutches and take the leap of faith for change.

To do so Pakatan must in the words of M. Bakri Musa free the Malay from the chains of “Ketuanan Melayu.” Pakatan must take the Malays beyond Umno’s battle cry of “Takkan Melayu Hilang di Dunia” by liberating the Malay mind, through information, education and commerce. Pakatan must be able to articulate what “Ketuanan Rakyat” means to the Malays. This, Selangor, the only PKR governed state did not do. From the standpoint of winning the hearts and minds of Malays, Pakatan in Selangor was running on empty since 2008, the fumes lasted to 2013 but this goodwill cannot be stretched to the next general election. RM3 billion in state reserves cannot win support in the face of potholes, unlit street lamps, uncollected rubbish, water rationing, increased quit rent and assessment rates, a dengue epidemic in the richest and most modern state in the nation with Malays still fighting for Class G contracts from state agencies, depending on Federal scholarships and Federal subsidies to survive.

To free the Malay mind Pakatan must also unlock the Muslim mind. The imprisonment of the Muslim mind began when in the 900s, Muslim scholars argued that all major matters of religious law had been settled and closed the “Gates of Ijtihad.” Ijithad is the Islamic legal term that means “independent reasoning” and that from that time onwards no one could be deemed to have the necessary qualifications for independent reasoning in religious law and that all future activity would be confined to “taqlid” the explanation, application and interpretation of doctrine laid down.

To liberate the Muslim mind would require the re-opening the “Gates of Ijtihad” and encouraging the practice of “tajdid” or renewal. There must be freedom, freedom to explore new ideas, freedom to question old ones and freedom to innovate. This is difficult with conservatives who view each change an affront to “taqlid.”

It is difficult for PAS to shift to “ijtihad” and “tajdid” when as Joseph Chinyong Liow writes in ”Piety and Politics” Umno and PAS had engaged in a seemingly endless cycle of Islamisation and counter-Islamisation:

“Thanks to the Islamisation race between the two, mainstream Malaysian national politics was soon dominated by issues such as the Islamic state, sharia law and the implementation of hudud punishments, polygamy, religious education, the construction of mosques and religious schools, and the definition of “proper” and “correct” Islam. From the outsider’s point of view, it appeared as if Malaysian politics had been dominated solely by religion and particularly Islam, alone”

In the final analysis, replacing Khalid Ibrahim in the face of PAS’ objections and telling PAS to go may very well push both into the arms of Umno and the loss of Selangor. It may be easier to just let the whole issue of replacing Khalid rest but as they say a moment of weakness, a lifetime of regret. By proceeding the temporary loss of Selangor may lead to the permanent gain of the whole nation and saving the country from ruin. If nothing is done Tun Mahathir may be right to choose the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

PAS