Will PAS accept PasMa with open arms?
Zubaidah Abu Bakar, The Rakyat Post
PERSATUAN Ummah Sejahtera (PasMa), the pro-Pakatan Rakyat non-governmental organisation, is here to stay.
And PAS, whose more moderate thinking members make up Pasma’s membership, will have to accept this, sooner or later.
A cursory look at PasMa’s set-up strikes similarity to Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia or Perkasa, the right wing group that is closely linked to Umno.
Like Perkasa, whose members are Umno card carrying members who champion the Malays on another platform, PasMa’s members are committed to help the Islamist party move forward in the direction of Putrajaya together with its Pakatan Rakyat allies, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and DAP.
In short, both play complementing roles to the political party they are linked to.
The only difference between the two is that Umno leaders are willing to accept Perkasa with open arms; PasMa on the other hand, has been condemned by the conservatives or the clerics in PAS.
PAS even banned its members from joining PasMa although there has been no proof that the NGO had ill-intentions to break up the party or sully the Islamist party’s image.
The conservative faction in PAS continues to critic PasMa. The group came under heavy fire at the recent PAS annual Muktamar (general assembly), including from party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
On Oct 22, the party’s influential Majlis Syura Ulama banned PAS members from participating in PasMa although until now, no action had been taken against those who did.
PasMa had time and again explained that it is merely an NGO supportive of PAS continued partnership in Pakatan Rakyat.
But the conservatives within PAS accuses it of being set up by party members frustrated that they had no leading role in PAS and continue to condemn its existence.
PasMa was also accused to have an agenda to topple Hadi, a suspicion PasMa president Datuk Phahrolrazi Zawawi had quashed as one that is unfounded.
Still, PasMa turns out to be gaining more ground, establishing itself in several states with more than 60,000 registered members, mostly from the northern states in the peninsula since its formation on Aug 10 following the Selangor Menteri Besar crisis which exposed fissures in the relationship between PAS and its allies.
Its first full meeting in Petaling Jaya on Friday, attended by some 100 leaders from all states in the peninsula, was successful.
As Phahrolrazi had reiterated, it has never been the group’s plan to take over PAS’ role in Pakatan Rakyat what more to interfere in any of PAS’ affairs, including in it’s elections next year.
All it wanted to do is to consolidate support from Pakatan supporters, who strongly believed that PAS would not be able to survive in the next general election without support beyond party ranks.
The NGO has a point here since PAS, as all are aware, won many seats, especially racially mixed-seats, in the past two general elections, due to votes from supporters of its Pakatan Rakyat allies.
Now that the PAS leadership is open to talk with PasMa, Phahrolrazi is hopeful that the scheduled meeting with representatives from PAS’ top leadership would clear all misunderstandings, allowing the PAS-PasMa relation to blossom positively for both PAS and Pakatan Rakyat.
The fact that the PAS recent retreat had decided that the party’s representatives headed by vice-president Salahuddin Ayub should engage with PasMa showed that the party is at the least open to learn more about the NGO.
A little too early to say but will PasMa be accepted by PAS after the meeting?
