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Categories
| PAS needs to take a leap of faith |
| Commentary | |||
| Written by Sharon Tan | |||
| Wednesday, 03 June 2009 11:03 | |||
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As the delegates mark their ballots, they will be choosing the direction the party will take in the next phase of Malaysia’s political development. Whereas PAS was formerly seen as a “kampung party” that drew most of its support from Malay-Muslim voters in the north east of the peninsula, it has now exploded into the mainstream as a party that non-Muslims are beginning to warm to. The party election boils down to a choice between two factions — a conservative and a liberal leadership, whose supporters have been named the Erdogans, after Turkey’s liberal prime minister Racip Tayyip Erdogan of the AK Parti. The winner will determine the party’s position and influence its relations with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition partners. While party president Datuk Hadi Awang heads the conservative faction, Kelantan senior executive councillor Datuk Husam Musa is the perceived leader of the liberals. The rise of the liberal faction began at the end of the 1990s, after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking as deputy prime minister by his erstwhile mentor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad led to the birth of the reformasi movement. That event marked an exodus of Western-educated professionals from Umno, who then threw their support behind PAS. In essence, this changed the party’s character as it made inroads into the urban areas. Instead of the labels “liberal” and “conservative”, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Professor Dr Ooi Kee Beng calls the factions pragmatists and fundamentalists, the former preferring a tactical approach to power while the latter is more concerned with traditional constituencies. “This election is important as an indicator of how well the grassroots have accepted the more extroverted and accommodating style of politics of the pragmatists,” said Ooi. “A strong showing by the fundamentalists would weaken PR.” Ibrahim Suffian of the opinion research firm Merdeka Center said the competing factions are speaking two different languages, which makes the contest more interesting. “You have the conservatives talking about the party going back to its roots, defending the interests of the Malay community and upholding Islamic principles,” said Ibrahim. “The more liberal, progressive leaders are trying to reinterpret the Islamic language of the party in more universal terms and stressing a more inclusive type of offering to the Malaysian public,” he said. Ibrahim viewed the two factions as complementing each other, both having the same goals but differing in interpretation and priorities. “I don’t think the liberals are saying they are going to do away with syariah,” said Ibrahim. PAS is prepared to build its support incrementally through educating the people about its ideals, he said. Nonetheless, Ibrahim opined that if PAS makes the right choice, it has the capacity to replace Umno as the main party. “There are different pathways for the parties. Umno is now intensely nationalistic or ethno-centric,” he said. “In PAS, there is a clear difference in their approach, in the rhetoric and policies that they are going to pursue,” said Ibrahim. “The choice is between greater cooperation with DAP and PKR or greater cooperation with Umno to preserve Malay political power. “They are very stark choices and I think that makes it interesting in the context that Umno is relatively weaker now than before,” he said. Ibrahim believed that for PAS, the days of working with Umno are over because the conditions are no longer right. The party shocked its coalition partners last year when news leaked out that deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa and other party leaders had met with Umno for talks. The talks also met with disapproval from its own party leaders, especially Mursyidul Am Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who never fails to remind the members of the party’s bitter experience with Umno/Barisan Nasional when it was booted out of the coalition in the 1970s. Nik Aziz has on many occasions given his tacit support to the liberal faction. Ibrahim agreed that if the hardliners dominate the leadership line-up in the party election, then there may be problems for PR. “It will be slower for them to gel and work things out going into the next election. The moderates are more in sync with the rest of the PR leadership. They will be working closer to try to maximise PAS’ potential to win the non-Malay votes,” he explained. PAS should capitalise on its good brand name currently, said Ibrahim. Looking ahead, Ooi believed that PAS would continue to grow in strength as long as it can cooperate with other PR parties, and as long as Umno continues to lose the moral ground by its unwillingness to carry out concerted reforms. “However, there is a limit to that power, and it can reach its full potential only if it accepts the fact that Malaysia is a very diverse country,” he said. While it is clear that PAS wants a shot at governing the country, some of its leaders may need to appreciate the need for the party to win the support of the non-Malays. The delegates’ choice of a more liberal, more conservative or balanced leadership may decide how it performs in the next general election. Now is the time for the party to make that leap of faith. This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, June 3, 2009.
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