How DAP’s PAN and Mat Sabu are being killed off

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jun 16, 2016

So Hadi and Najib would have shown that they are good Muslims by allowing the Syariah Amendment Bill (which is not even Hudud yet) to be brought to Parliament (even if Parliament does not pass the Bill in the end) while PAN would have shown they are bad Muslims and will only serve DAP and not serve Allah.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

That is what the media, columnists and analysts are saying — PAN (a.k.a. Amanah) is a progressive party while PAS is a conservative party. Even back when there was no PAN yet, they were still referring to the two factions in PAS as the progressive group versus the conservative group.

Now, of course, there is supposed to be (I say ‘supposed to be’ because that is the impression the anti-PAS people want to give) no longer any progressive faction in PAS. All those who are supposed to be progressive have left PAS to set up a new progressive party called PAN. That means all those remaining in PAS are only the conservatives.

But what does ‘conservative’ really mean? Actually, it just means traditional, conventional, old school, unadventurous, averse to change, and so on. For example, some conservative people are very superstitious and believe that you do not sweep the floor or wear black on Chinese New Year Day, or sweep away the cobwebs from your shop that is doing very well and is making good money, etc.

There are also conservatives who feel children should not cross in front of adults unless they bow slightly and ‘minta lalu’, or a woman should not look a man in the eye unless it is her husband, or a wife should not leave the house without her husband’s permission, and more.

Basically, conservatives hold to old values, customs and traditions and are not ‘progressive’ enough to accept the changes in the modern world where the young no longer need to show respect to the elders or wives no longer need to submit to their husbands and can do what they like, and so on.

Being conservative may not necessary be a bad thing because at least children will not dump their parents in old folks homes like what is so common in ‘progressive’ societies — which is a problem even in Singapore and Hong Kong where the younger generation Chinese no longer believe in old values.

Nevertheless, being conservative is being made to appear as something negative, which is actually a very clever strategy. When you call one faction ‘progressive’ that would mean the opposing faction is not progressive. They are outdated, old fashioned, obsolete, archaic, ancient, antiquated, behind time, regressive, prehistoric, etc.

Progressive is positive and the opposite of progressive is negative. And the opposite of progressive is conservative, or so they want us to believe.

Hence labelling is very important and PAS has successfully been labelled as something negative by labelling those opposed to PAS as something positive. When two people fight and you label one side as good or right that automatically means the other side is bad or wrong.

This was how the US and the West propagated Capitalism. They ran down the opposite of Capitalism, which is Communism. Once people accept the ‘fact’ that Communism is evil, then Capitalism becomes virtuous. What people did not realise is that Capitalism is basically a new form of slavery. You become economic slaves and get sucked into a form of bondage that you can never escape from. Yes, we become what can be called economic slaves.

Anyway, PAS failed to keep its eye on the ball and now the damage has been done and there is no longer any turning back the clock. PAS will have to accept the fact that it has been labelled a conservative party and that conservative is considered bad. But then it is bad only if it is conservative as far as religion is concerned because the Conservative Party rules in England and no one calls them a Taliban party.

So, the conclusion is: PAN is progressive while PAS is not; PAS is conservative. And now we will have to analyse the differences between the two parties considering that PAN is a breakaway party from PAS and is supposed to be better than PAS — in that PAN is progressive while PAS is not.

First let us see what PAS stands for.

PAS supports Hudud and hopes to eventually see that law implemented even though they know it might never be implemented or may take a very long time to be implemented — that is if it can ever be implemented in the first place.

PAS feels, as an Islamic party, it must fulfil its religious obligations (such as pushing for Hudud) — even if it is not going to happen — because Muslims are supposed to make the effort and leave it to God to decide the outcome (and if it does not happen then that is God’s will and Muslims must accept that).

PAS supports democracy and accepts that its job is merely to try to fulfil its religious obligations within the democratic process (for example, such as pushing for Hudud) but in the end democracy must prevail and the majority must have the say as to what happens even if what happens is not what PAS hoped to see.

PAS (either officially or people in PAS) does not support half-naked girls singing and dancing on stage, beauty contests, shows featuring transvestites or men dressed up as women, massage parlours, brothels, prostitution, drug trafficking, terrorism, kidnapping, murder, robbery, fraud, loan sharking, lotteries, gambling, corruption, abuse of power, Muslims consuming liquor or pork, Muslims eating during the fasting month, Muslims missing their Friday prayers, sex outside marriage, gay relationships, and all that which is considered immoral and/or haram from the Islamic perspective.

PAS accepts Malaysia’s system of Constitutional Monarchy with the Ruler as the head of religion and Islam as the religion of the Federation although Malaysia is neither a Secular State or a Theocratic State but something in between.

Well, those are just some of the things that PAS stands for — as what many would say is a conservative party. And PAN is supposed to be opposed to everything that PAS stands for. And that was why they broke away from PAS and formed a rival party called PAN. It is because PAN is opposed to everything that PAS supports.

For non-Muslims, the choice is very simple. Since PAN opposes everything that PAS stands for then they would support PAN.

Muslims, however, have a harder choice to make. They know that Hudud can never be implemented (just like lotteries, gambling and casinos will never be banned in Malaysia). However, as Muslims, they cannot oppose Hudud or call it wrong. They still need to take a stand in supporting Hudud and then leave it to the majority in Parliament to decide. Privately, though, they will admit that Hudud can never happen. But for the sake of their soul they will never oppose Hudud.

It is the same with Muslims who drink (beer or liquor, that is). If you ask them whether beer or liquor is halal or haram they will say it is haram. They will never say it is halal. But they will still drink even though they admit it is haram and not halal.

The issue is simple. Not following God’s commands is a sin but a sin that can be forgiven. Opposing God’s commands is a very serious sin that will guarantee you hell. So Muslims may sometimes do what they are not supposed to do (like drink) but they will never try to change God’s commands by saying that beer or liquor is halal and not haram. Strange, is it not?

And the same applies for all the other issues as well. What is wrong is wrong. What is mandatory is mandatory. Your obligations must be fulfilled. You do not oppose God’s commands. If you violate some of them you admit that you are wrong and not try to argue that you are right by changing God’s commands.

And this is how many Muslims handle the Hudud issue as well. Our job is to just do it. Whether it happens or not is beyond our control. God will decide if it happens or not. And if it does not happen then it is because God does not want it to happen.

As Nizar Jamaluddin would say: whatever happens is divine intervention. So if Hudud does not happen then that is due to divine intervention. But as long as you pushed for it then you have fulfilled your religious obligation and it is now in God’s hands.

Quite smart these PAS people; don’t you think so? Now they can tell the Muslims that they tried their best to push for Hudud and even got the Syariah Amendment Bill into Parliament (which is not even Hudud yet). However, since Malaysia is a democracy, it has to be left to Parliament to decide and if the majority in Parliament reject it then what can PAS do? In a democracy, PAS needs to follow the wishes of the majority.

PAN, however, will have to tell the Muslims that they oppose Hudud and did not even support the Syariah Amendment Bill to be brought to Parliament (which is not even Hudud yet), because their sponsor and benefactor, DAP, is opposed to Hudud and PAN needs to follow the wishes of DAP.

I am beginning to suspect that Abdul Hadi Awang has sprung a very clever trap for PAN to walk into, and which they did. And Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak can also tell the Muslims that as a Muslim he allowed the Syariah Amendment Bill (which is not even Hudud yet) to be brought to Parliament but then since Parliament did not pass it (as is allowed in a democracy) there is nothing more he can do about the matter.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK