PAS does not really hate Umno

By MT Webmaster Last updated Nov 28, 2014

The Malays in Umno, PAS and PKR all want the same thing. The only thing is PAS wants a bit extra — the banning of liquor, gambling, sexy shows and all forms of vices, plus the implementation of Islamic laws. Other than that PAS supports what Umno is doing — minus the abuse of power and corruption, of course.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The perception is that PAS hates Umno. PAS does not hate Umno. Umno is merely a competitor to PAS in the pursuit of political power, just like DAP and PKR are as well. And that is because PAS is a political party and the job of political parties is to attain power.

Around 20 years or so ago, Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat said if Umno becomes more Islamic and agrees to implement Islam to the fullest, which means Hudud laws included, then there is no longer any need for PAS. PAS can then be closed down because all PAS wants is to see Islam implemented in Malaysia.

I personally asked Mustafa Ali 30 years ago as to why PAS continues to frighten the non-Muslims by talking about what the non-Muslims would view as radical Islam. Would it not be better that PAS projects a more liberal image and attract the support of the non-Muslims? This is the only way that PAS can get into power at federal level.

I added that PAS is a political party and the job of political parties is to get into power. Instead, PAS is behaving like an evangelist movement rather than a political party. Hence it would be very difficult to attract the non-Muslim vote, which means PAS will never get into power, other than maybe in the few states of the Malay heartland.

Mustafa Ali replied that the first priority of PAS is to propagate Islam. Getting into power is the second priority. The only reason PAS is a political party is because only on a political platform will PAS be allowed to talk about Islam. On any other platform, other than a political party, PAS would be silenced.

The birth of PAS itself is due to the religious wing of Umno breaking away to form a new party, the result of Umno resisting the calls of the Islamists in Umno for the party to become more Islamic. If the liberals in Umno had met the Islamists at least halfway, the Islamists would not have left Umno to form a new Islamic party.

Hence the difference between PAS and Umno is merely in how Islam should be implemented in Malaysia. And with Umno becoming more Islamic and some in PAS, the non-ulama’ faction, becoming more liberal, the gap between PAS and Umno is now very fine indeed, almost invisible.

Hence, now, the difference between PAS and Umno is merely regarding who should lead Malaysia and who should become the Prime Minister. It is now more about political power and less about Islam. So PAS, as per my discussion with Mustafa Ali 30 years ago, is now more of a political party while Umno is more a ‘perjuangan Islam’, as Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin himself said yesterday.

Umno activist Zaharin Mohd Yasin put it very succinctly about eight years ago during a public function when he said that there is hardly much difference between PAS and Umno. The only difference is that the PAS people say Bismillah and Alhamdulillah when they take money while the Umno people do not. I suppose Umno people only say terima kasih. Other than that, said Zaharin, PAS and Umno are the same.

Zaharin is known to be very vocal, and cheeky to boot, so that would be exactly the kind of thing he would say. Nevertheless, as my late mother used to say, many a true word is said in jest. And knowing what has been happening in Kelantan since PAS took over in 1990, and in Kedah in 2008, Zaharin was not joking. The only thing is the degree in the PAS-run states is not as serious as in the Umno-run states.

Do you think PAS disagrees with everything that Umno does? They disagree with some of what Umno does and they disagree more for political reasons rather than for reasons of Islamic dogma. Other than that PAS is quite happy with quite a bit of the government policies.

For example, the non-Malays are not happy with what they allege are Umno’s policies that promote racism, discrimination and persecution. Has PAS ever said they want racial quotas abolished and a policy of meritocracy to be introduced?

Let us say that the government employs people based on merit and qualifications and not based on race. Currently, more than one million Malays form the bulk of the civil service, police, armed forces, etc. If the government introduces a policy of meritocracy and qualifications, in time to come, say after a decade or two, the Malays would lose their monopoly in the civil service, police, armed forces and so on.

Has PAS ever proposed this idea? The racial quotas and preferential treatment for the Malays is a government policy, and hence can also be seen as Umno’s policy. Why does PAS not ask that Malaysia practice a non-discrimination policy that will allow more non-Malays in the government, which will eventually result in the Malay majority being reduced or even eliminated?

By not opposing what is known as the ‘Bumiputera policy’, PAS can be said to be giving its tacit approval to that policy, and hence this means PAS does not oppose Umno when it comes to what non-Malays call Umno’s ‘racist and discrimination’ policy.

In Malaysia, we have what is called Malay reservation land. This means only Malays can own this land. In Kelantan it is worse. You have to not only be Malay but you must be Kelantan-born Malay as well. Hence Malays from another state cannot own Malay reservation land in Kelantan.

PAS has been in power in Kelantan for 45 of the 57 years since Merdeka, and has been continuously in power since the last 24 years. Why has PAS not changed this law so that non-Malays, or Malays from the other states, can own land in Kelantan?

Did they do that in Kedah when they were in power from 2008 to 2013, or in Terengganu from 1999 to 2004? PAS did not because they do not want Malay reservation land to fall into the hands of the non-Malays.

The creation of Malay reservation land was a British idea to ensure that the Malays do not lose their land to the non-Malays. And neither Umno nor PAS will change this. For that matter, neither will Anwar Ibrahim or PKR.

In Selangor and many other states, Christians are not allowed to preach Christianity to Muslims. Malay language Bibles cannot be distributed to Muslims and non-Muslims are barred from using about two-dozen words, Allah included. This is the law and mentioned in the Constitution.

In fact, this law in Selangor was passed by the Umno state government when they were in power. Now that Umno is no longer in power and Pakatan Rakyat controls more than two-thirds majority in the Selangor State Assembly, they can abolish this law.

But they do not. And neither PAS nor PKR will support DAP Selangor’s call to abolish this law that bars Christians their freedom of propagating Christianity to Muslims. Muslims, however, are free to propagate Islam to non-Muslims.

These are just some examples and we have not even touched on the education policy such as racial quotas for universities, UiTM, etc. Chinese set up Chinese schools with their own money while institutions such as UiTM are financed by the taxpayers. Yet non-Malays are not allowed into these institutions and even those that they are is based on quota and not on merit.

If Umno adopts the same policy such as Singapore will the PAS Malays agree? If the new policy is ‘may the best man win’ and if the Malays do not come up to the mark then they deserve to get left behind will PAS and those Malays not aligned to Umno support this policy?

Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Pakatan Rakyat, which PAS and PKR are also members of, is travelling all over the world giving talks. But he is talking about personal issues plus about how Pakatan Rakyat was cheated in the last general election.

Is he telling the world about how apartheid is prevalent in Malaysia? Is he telling the world that the non-Malays are facing discrimination in Malaysia? Is he asking the world to pressure Malaysia to end the Bumiputera preferential policy? Is he complaining to the world that in Malaysia Muslims can preach Islam to the non-Muslims but Christians cannot preach Christianity to Muslims (or use about two dozen ‘Islamic’ words)? Is he revealing to the world that while Malays can buy freehold land, non-Malays cannot buy Malay reservation land?

And, more importantly, has either Anwar or PAS promised the voters that once they come into power they are going to change all this?

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK