By Aidila Razak | Jun 3, 11
Malaysiakini
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today made it clear that any bid to forge cooperation between PAS and Umno in the name of Malay unity is an effort in futility.
Not mincing his words during his keynote speech at the Muktamar in Gombak, Kuala Lumpur today, Abdul Hadi (right) said that Umno had forsaken the Malays and bumiputera by plundering wealth through dubious means.
“Umno as a Malay-bumiputera majority party was entrusted with leadership (but)… the wealth of the nation has been turned into the private property of leaders, while the rakyat struggle to make ends meet.
“(We teach society that) there is a difference between PAS’ cooperation in Pakatan Rakyat, with cooperation with Umno in BN, which sacrifices Islamic principles,” he told an audience of about 1,000.
Abdul Hadi, who was delivering the speech on behalf of PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat, said that the claim of “Umno Malays” to seek Malay unity but continue to vote non-Malay BN candidates against PAS.
“Umno has created a flock of Malays and Muslims who are blind and deaf to money politics, with entertainment and media used to turn Malays and Muslims stupid,” he said.
Abdul Hadi’s strongly-worded speech comes on the back of renewed calls by BN that the Islamic party abandon Pakatan Rakyat and join BN in the name of Malay unity.
Abdul Hadi added that PAS has an obligation to clean up politics from “disgusting acts like corruption, money politics, slander, racism, lies and all manner of things which embarrass even our children who are watching us”.
“Politics needs to be cleaned up but this cannot be done by Umno-BN who have sullied it with their own hands,” he said cuttingly, during the hour-long speech.
Lambasting the call for Umno-PAS cooperation as “narrow communalism”, Abdul Hadi said that Islam acknowledges the existence of racially plural societies.
“We need to realise that a plural (majmuk) society is part of Islam’s political message.
“It is compulsory for us to spread the message of no compulsion in religion, and that Islam is fair for all… so (non-Muslims) can see how Islam should be practiced, and Islam’s image which has been tainted by Umno’s antics can be redeemed,” he said.
[More to follow]
UM-No! Definitely not! No! No!
Don’t be fooled by this ‘new’ UMNo. It is a different brand. A Mahathir creation. Buy original.
Actually I don’t know whether he means it or not. All I know is that it would be really foolish of PAS to join up with UMNO if they don’t have at least a third of the Cabinet position including at least Minister of Finance or Deputy PM. Without at least such a major deal, PAS could be diluted at any time and would be more likely to be eventually corrupted with with UMNO/BN corruption rather than actually push their agenda for Islamic state.
Its quite simple really, if UMNO join up with PAS, MIC, Gerakan, MCA and also many Sabah and Sarawak parties would be decimated. Much of those position need to redistributed largely between UMNO and PAS except for some Sabah and Sarawak members. That is at least 1/3 of the cabinet post. If PAS false for the trap of taking only 3 cabinet post on the excuse that other parties like MCA, MIC, Gerakan need to be accomodated, they would be crazy..
This is one of the rare moment I salute and admire Hadi Awang.
I think if PAS is willing to accept plural society in an open manner, the possibility of a 2 party of coalition can become realistic. By accpeting that people do defer in their perception of the after world is a positive move. It does not mean PAS has to do away with its missionary works. Using the correct approach in such work may even serve your objectives in such field a lot better than ramming it down the throat. Logic certainly will carry the day in the long run. With the modern mind being provided with so much information and bombardment of knowledge, pure shouting of one’s belief will not serve its purpose.
At the moment, the social ills beset the nation after over more than a generation of wantonness cannot be erased overnight. Even if PR were to take over Putrajaya, it will need more a few terms to even keel this nation. The rights to ‘easy’ money has permeated the nation for so long, its roots so deep embedded that we can’t just wish it away. If those items mentioned by Hadi is the foundation of PAS’s struggle in all honesty; use it as your slogan for the coming 13th GE. PR will be surprised!!
Saying things like ““disgusting acts like corruption, money politics, slander, racism, lies and all manner of things which embarrass even our children who are watching us” about UMNO is useless. It’s like water off a duck’s back. These people in UMNO can’t deny all these bad things, so they just grit their teeth, and with a straight face, still try to woo PAS week in week out.
I can imagine discussions between PAS and UMNO going like this:
Hadi: It is against Islam to steal, cheat, lie and commit slander
UMNO: We want you to join us for Malay unity
Hadi: It is against Islam to treat a fellow human being unfairly, even if he is of a different faith
UMNO: We want you to join us for Malay unity
Hadi: PAS will never join a party of hypocrites and thieves
UMNO: We want you to join us for Malay unity
Then we will hear Ibrahim Katak chime in: “We need Malay unity because the Chinese are trying to take away Malay power enshrined under Article 153.”
Pas will be short sighted to join Umno. All parties within BN firmament are subject to Umno’s hegemony. What benefits are there for PAS leaders to join? Maybe 1 or 2 top tier Pas leaders given cabinet post for portfolio created just for them; 2nd tier leaders could be appointed senators, given overseas appointment or at least join PM’s entourage on overseas trip. The BN’s focus is on patronage – distribution of largesse based on tenets of capitalism. Pas leaders listen to a different beat of the drum. They won’t play second fiddle to Umno for material considerations as priority.
Pas’ unflinching goal is to establish the Almighty’s state here with Islam as al-Din (the way of life). For that it must be in the position to dominate the coalition, which is impossible given Umno’s position within BN. Working with Pakatan appears to give better prospects. It views PR as a temporary but expedient political alliance.
In times facing strong common opponent like UMNO and to fight corruption Pas will need such an alliance. After electoral winning then it will be a coalition government that PAS hopes to lead and at this level it will then be necessary for Pas to assert the formation of an Islamic state based on Shari’ah. All Pas needs to do – for the moment – is to act liberal and assuage non Malays/Muslims concerns to slowly learn accept PAS’s version of Islamic justice and righteousness, shifting the race focal point of Umno to Islamic focal point. Pas believes in patience. It will secure ultimate victory (as it believes it will supersede PKR in due course as dominant party) – from their leaders point of view. It is based on the tactically principle of backtracking one step (in accomodation of certain realities) in order to advance in longer run 2 steps. (If it were to join UMNO now it would lose credibility amongst the many of those who switched allegiance from Umno to Pas owing to outrage at Anwar Ibrahim’s mistreatment during TDM’s time).
“In order to win support from non-Muslim in facing the 1999 general election, PAS had tactically proposed to drop the clause of establishing an Islamic state from the party constitution. PAS Murshidul Am Tuan Guru (Nik Abdul Aziz) argued that this would not mean the party will totally ignore its main objective ofestablishing a country which based on the principle of Islam. He drew the example of the Prophet’s method of da’wa/1 who did not bother not to be called by the Qurasyh as the messenger of Allah (Rasulullah) in the treaty of Hudaybiyyah. he who claimed that this tactical move has later enabled Muslims to enter Mecca peacefully, also suggested that the party should concentrate on the matter of justice which he expected could bring all people to work together….” – an extract from “The Politico-da’wah Approaches of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) : A Historical Review by Badlihisham Mohd Nasir
“Abdul Hadi, for example, argued that Tahalluf was needed depending on the time and the nature of the challenges. He suggested that the Tahalluf occurred at two levels of political development: first, the level of establishing political development, and second, the level of forming a political alliance. On the level of forming a coalition government, Abdul Hadi said that political interests must serve the interests of
Islam, recognising the formation of an Islamic state and accepting an Islamic institution based on Shari’ah. A political alliance, he argued, might be formed under the circumstances of facing great enemies, for
resisting injustice, or to check corruption. This alliance should only be
considered as a temporary measure, and without specific binding that
might contradict Islamic principles and movements” – an extract from “The Politico-da’wah Approaches of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) : A Historical Review by Badlihisham Mohd Nasir
DAP should form the next government with PAS, Keadilan, and some East Malaysian parties. The priority of the new government would be the fight against corruption, and the purging of national institutions (police, courts, the great MACC, …). No one doubts the integrity of PAS as a governing party; the Islamic State could be discussed later. Perhaps Islamic law could be implemented on Muslims first, with their consent. If seen to be attractive, non-Muslims may accept many aspects of it of their own free will. One country, two legal systems (Islamic and Secular) looks plausible.
PAS should not at all cost join UMNO in the name of Malay unity.There is no unity among the Malays because PAS had religion and moral in its mind.It had its members on a socialist path where religion and wealth is distributed with utmost care and the weak are protected at all cost.UMNO is just the opposite.It took on a path of justice to people but ended up plundering the nation’s wealth in the hand of the few created mainly by ideas that had its founding from Mahathir.Corruption was what made the Malay UMNO rich and lazy; a hallmark that had been denied by Mahathir but accepted by all clear thinking Malaysians.PAS had been given a negative label in the name of Islam because its followers had been also those who had not understood Islam well.With the coming of educated PAS leaders who could show to the non-muslims that Islam does not coerce but it persuades where a clear thinking citizen has the right to do what he knows best.In the light of the political situation that is clearly showing that the people want a government other than UMNO as what had happened to Congress in India.It looks the bright light is shining in the path of PKR coalition with a firm statement by Hadi.PAS has nothing to lose because Kelantan is always theirs and they can practise what they preach.If they PR can form the government at least we can prove to the world that Islam is not an hinderance to progress.Bin Laden’s islamic approach had created Afghanistan and to a certain extent Pakistan.Malaysia is never on that path and Hadi had hit the nail hard.We wish him succces because he had shown what PAS is.
Mohamad Sabu has won the party deputy presidency with 420 votes, leading a group of progressive leaders to counter conservatives who prefer to link up with Umno.
The Penang-born Mohamad defeated incumbent Nahsarudin Mat Isa who received only 224 votes and vice-president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man who came second with 399 votes.
PAS will loose its’ PASness because all are Malays and the public will see them as Malays only and Muslims and because of that, PAS will loose out and UMNO will win. The bigger and stronger of these two is UMNO.
PAS members practices the teaching of the religion, and they are therefore no different from Christians who believe in the same God. So when public see them as Malays only in term of racial classification. But practising Islam will not make them racist like UMNO. Now that Chinese votes will not go back to UMNO and its subordinates, Malays would decide whether they support UMNO or PAS. Human beings an are born good, and it is the environemtn that would them to become bad, so said Mencius. We will find out soon enough whether Mamakthir had actually poisoned the minds of Malays to the extent that even PAS could not help them to change.
Mamakthir in 1950 wrote his opposition to the reduced period of resident requirement for non-Malays from 15 to 12 years, to obtain citizenships. That concession granted 500,000 Chinese Malayan citizenship status. UMNO members then were influenced by the sadist argument to cause Dato Onn Jaafar to resign the position of UMNO president. Mamakthir argued 60 years ago that non-Malays realized instant benefit whereas Malays took time to realize the benefit of assistance to be provided by Chinese. The thought behind that argument was that non-Malays should not be allowed to enjoy the status of citizenship, even when it was not a liability to the nation. What did non-Malays gained tangibly in the citizenship status? In 1950 Malayan citizens did not have the voting rights since Malaya was then a colony of the British. The tangible benefit they obtained was only official travel document which allowed them to visit China, India and other countries. In fact Malayans were then free to move to Penang or Malacca, and the birth certificate issued in these states equal to citizenship. Mamakthir 60 years ago harboured the sadistic thought against non-Malays. Surprisingly UMNO members then could be so influenced. So Mamakthir toppled Dato Onn Jaafar, and Tunku, as President of UMNO, he arranged for Hussein Onn to resign as PM and President of UMNO and AAB to declare retirment. So except for Tun Razak, Mamakthir toppled all other UMNO Presidents. Najib is luckier since he is likely to survive the natural life of Mamakthir who is not likely to last beyond 2011.