PAS gearing up to be the alternative to Umno
(FMT) – Umno’s undoing has created a political vacuum which the Islamist party can fill, says Zam
Former information minister Zainuddin Maidin sees a fresh opportunity for PAS to show that it can erase the stigma attached to it: extremist, prone to bigotry and anachronistic.
“It has to proceed with wisdom,” he said in his latest blog posting.
He said the just-concluded elections showed that PAS had derived positive returns from the insults DAP had thrown at it. “PAS, under Hadi, has captured the moral high ground.”
Lim Kit Siang was spitting in the air and it has now fallen on his own face, he argued. “The party members have shown that they are not the kind of Muslims and Malays who can be bullied by anyone.
“How will the Chinese see Lim licking his own spit off his face? Will DAP be seen still as a party with dignity?”
According to Zainuddin, PAS’ name-calling days are over and its new line-up reflects an ideal leadership, neat, clean, firm, disciplined, and one that will command respect and will be feared and dreaded at the same time.
If PAS could revive its original image of being Islamic and nationalist, he added, the Malays would see it as the alternative to Umno and as a party that would ensure the sovereignty of the nation based on power-sharing with the non-Malays and non-Muslims in a genuine and honourable way.
He was commenting on the virtual purge of the Anwarinas in PAS through a smooth democratic process, beautifully done, unlike the bloodbath which Umno engaged in to get rid of the same group.
“This is the end of Anwar Ibrahim in PAS, as in Umno,” said Zainuddin.
