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(1) Can PAS hold the middle ground?, 21 November 2012
by S Thayaparan
"(They) have deviated from Islam and should be condemned to hell." Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the proponents of the implementation of hudud ('A code of their own', Time Magazine, 2002)
The big winner in the public relations stakes of the recently concluded PAS muktamar would appear to be Abdul Hadi Awang.
The "for all" in the "PAS for all" tagline is mainly for the non-Muslims/Malay. I have often made the argument that the sole political party in Malaysia, which has a firm ideological stance and have demonstrated commitment to its rhetoric, is PAS.
Whatever your views on Islam, PAS over the long Umno watch has been consistent in its rejection of Umno framing the conflict in religious terms, which often times pitted them against DAP.
The argument often made by DAP partisans is that PAS needs the coalition (thus the Chinese vote) to have a chance to claim the throne in Putrajaya. While this may be true, I would argue that without PAS, there would be no coalition with a credible chance of forming a new government.
Hadi Awang, who at one time was the poster boy of the Pakatan Rakyat apparatchiks as a vote spoiler and possible Umno puppet, has seen his image rehabilitated. Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been partly responsible for Hadi Awang's good fortune in the public relations department.
Objective PAS watchers would no doubt recall the time when Hadi Awang was hell-bent on imposing hudud in Terengganu that resulted in the then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi proclaiming that the police would not enforce such laws.
Hadi Awang who was convinced that Muslims and non-Muslims would embrace such laws had even identified specific sites where prisons would be built but did not offer any specifics on how amputations and stonings would be carried out.
This, of course, led the good doctor to utter the quote that begins this piece. All of which makes Mahathir's baiting of PAS concerning hudud for all, even more hilarious.
Winning the middle ground
Hadi Awang's ‘secular' response on PAS' commitment to respect the beliefs of ‘others' is further evidence that PAS is shrewdly maintaining the middle ground while Umno and its outsourced bullyboys doggedly spout right-wing bile in the hopes of fear-mongering their way back to the middle ground.
And therein lays the problem. Umno has no concept of what the middle ground is. For years, the Umno-defined middle ground was that of appeasement by its non-Malay coalition partners and system of discrimination in the guise of an affirmative action policy. As a former high-ranking Umno minister succinctly put it, Umno unlike PAS has no ideological foundation to build anything on.
What Umno has is a system of patronage that results in internal power struggles with warlords deciding the direction of the party. In others words, there is no ideological tensions within Umno. This is why on a micro level there has never been any need to discover a compromise. This translates into a macro level of not understanding that the middle ground is defined by a large section of the voting public.
PAS, on the other hand, has always had to contend with the tensions that arise when the moderate and extreme impulses within the party collide. Over the years, one or the other has held sway over the political and social direction of the party.
Post-tsunami 2008, the ascendancy of the moderates, or the so-called Erdrogans, has seen them having to contend with elements in their party who are singing the Umno tune and the realisation that for the time being they have to get used to the opposition benches.
These elements singing the Umno tune should not be confused with those who genuinely believe that PAS has lost its way. What Umno has been partially successful in doing is create an atmosphere within PAS where genuine dissent is conflated with the polemics emanating from Umno stool pigeons.
This whole idea of ‘tahaluf siyasi' (political consensus) with Pakatan and the concept of ‘welfare state' has been propagandised by Umno as a rejection of the Islamic path, but the reality is political compromise and socialistic elements is not alien to the Malaysian landscape, the only difference here is that Umno is not doing the defining.
The problem with Islam (anywhere in the world) is that the hardliners have always defined the religion. In PAS, where the ebb and flow of clashing ideologies has always favoured the hardliners, it has finally been halted by political expediency.
The prospect of federal rule is a prize too good to pass up and it is to the credit of PAS that they are slowly realising that the Wahhabi strain of Islam is not the only avenue of Islamic expression.
If Umno could in form portray itself as a moderate Islamic entity with the collusion of its non-Malay/Muslim partners, then perhaps PAS could in substance reinvent itself as a moderate Muslim force with partners who were not subservient to the sole political party that defines itself as the defender of Islam.
However, the real conundrum is that, the non-Malay/Muslim vote that has always been linked to the middle ground in the end would prove untenable because of the changing demographic.
The brilliance of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and his partners is that they have tenuously defined the middle ground on issues of cronyism and corruption, but the downside of this is that they have not defined religious freedom as all encompassing.
What they have ensured is that Islam in theory never trespasses onto the domains of the non-Malays. In other words, the Malay/Islam majority population would still be at the mercy of their so-called religious betters in the form of PAS.
PAS has never had an incentive to recalibrate its dogma, assuming that its new-found popularity was because Islam or the kind PAS propagates was gaining acceptance by a large section of the voting public. This, of course, is nowhere near reality.
Heady times ahead
The separate but equal ideology that has pacified the more exuberant hardliners will in the end prove disastrous to the majority Malay community if ever PAS' influences become overpowering. Hadi Awang's speech with nary a mention of hudud must have warmed the hearts of Pakatan partisans as a confirmation that the whole hudud issue was passé.
However, PAS members themselves tell me that with the corruption shenanigans in Kedah, some members feel that PAS' existential crisis has more to do with a lack of moral fortitude within their own ranks brought upon by the quest for federal power.
These are heady times for the power players in PAS. Post-tsunami 2008 they have had to contend with a whole range of issues all the while dodging the hudud bullet.
PAS is on record as stating they have no objection to a non-Malay prime minister so long as that person is a Muslim. They have endorsed the concept of ‘Ketuanan Rakyat' in place of ‘Ketuanan Melayu'. They have remained steadfast in the face of the Umno onslaught on their religious credibility and they have provided the muscle (making up the numbers) and handling the logistics of large-scale public demonstrations against the current regime.
What they have not done is to define the middle ground without the aid of their partners. What they have not done is redefine their interpretation of Islam to make PAS an acceptable moderate choice even if they were not in the coalition.
What PAS should be doing is using this phase of political compromise as a starting point in reforming its ideas, perhaps reconnecting with its own leftist ideology that it abandoned in favour of the Saudi-influenced Islam that has proven disastrous everywhere in the world.
This is important because as long as Islam plays a role in the political process here in Malaysia and hudud is a card in the deck, the dream of a true multicultural/religious Malaysia will remain just that, a dream.
・S THAYAPARAN is Commander (rtd) of Royal Malaysian Navy.
(2) PAS remains under pressure from conservatives, 21 November 2012
by Kim Quek
The just-ended PAS annual general conference (muktamar) has landed Pakatan Rakyat into troubled waters again.
What started off on the right footing with Abdul Hadi Awang's presidential address reflecting PAS as a matured partner in solidarity and harmony with Pakatan in hot pursuit of Putrajaya, has ended in near disaster.
On the first day of the main conference last Friday, Hadi gave much cheer to the entire Pakatan alliance and its supporters with a speech that hammered on common agenda and centred on issues conducive to winning the electoral battle ahead.
Even delegates debating Hadi's speech largely skirted the controversial issues of hudud and Islamic state that could potentially disrupt unity within the Pakatan alliance.
However, this politically pragmatic approach has caused unease among the conservatives, who were disturbed by the lack of mention of implementing hudud and other Islamic agenda, and construed this as deviation from PAS' original struggle, which is to realise an Islamic state.
Spearheaded by the ulama and the Youth wing, the conservatives mounted a fightback that culminated in delegates vowing to work towards a resounding electoral success that would allow PAS to assume the leading role in the Pakatan alliance, with Hadi as prime minister. Such clamour eventually won the apparent approval of the assembly, with Hadi tacitly going along with the idea.
Electoral backlash
Little did the delegates at that hour of jubilation realise that such an ending to the muktamar has sent a shock wave through the Chinese community, with which I am in close contact. The first thoughts that come to their minds are notions of a PAS-dominated government with Hadi as prime minister in a post-BN era.
What follow are uneasy thoughts associated with a country veering towards Islamisation, things like restrictions on alcohol and pork consumption and entertainment, and general conformity to Islamic practices such as gender segregation, dress codes in public places, etc.
Above all, there is the implementation of the much feared but little understood hudud and the Islamic legal system, with all its vague implications. In short, such a new Pakatan rule is envisaged to adversely alter the present way of life of the Chinese minority.
Accuracy aside, these are common perceptions and initial reflexes of many in the Chinese community.
Needless to say, the electoral backlash to Pakatan in general, and to PAS in particular, is predictable.
Many Chinese Pakatan supporters must have been jolted into reflection and self-doubts:
• Am I right to vote Pakatan to power?
• What if PAS really becomes the dominant political force, with its leader as prime minister?
• What if the country is transforming into an Islamic state?
These thoughts and doubts, if allowed to nurture and no doubt inflamed by relentless BN propaganda, will culminate in the ultimate question:
To take the risk with Pakatan, which may lead to Islamisation of our way of life or to keep the status quo, which no doubt is unpalatable with all its evils of racialism, corruption and abuse of power, but undeniably familiar or even comfortable (to some), having been ruled by such a political power for ages?
My bet is that a sizable portion of this electorate will prefer to remain in the comfort zone ruled by "the devil we know".
But of course, those well-informed about the current politics will remain steadfast in their determination to support Pakatan, knowing that the chances of Islamisation in the foreseeable future are slim.
This is because the Pakatan alliance works on consensus, and DAP and PKR will continue to want Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to take the premiership in a triumvirate, where PAS is unlikely to predominate.
And yet, there is the third camp of current Chinese Pakatan supporters - those who would take the cautious approach of continuing to support Pakatan, but will vote in such a way that PAS will not become dominant. This would mean that these voters, while continuing to vote for PKR and DAP, will refrain from voting for a PAS candidate to avoid the Islamic party becoming dominant.
The hard truth
Thus, PAS will become the first casualty in such an electoral backlash triggered by the muktamar. Many PAS candidates, who may otherwise be able to squeeze through due to overwhelming Chinese support, might now be felled by BN.
Under this scenario, PKR and DAP may not suffer as much as PAS, but their hopes of reaching Putrajaya will be similarly dashed, as any electoral setback of this size to any of the partners will prove to be fatal to the alliance's chances of winning a simple majority in such a tight race.
My estimation is that, discounting the adverse impact of the muktamar, three-quarters of the Chinese electorate are currently supporting Pakatan. On this level of Chinese support, Pakatan will win in the next election, unless electoral frauds far exceed those of the last election in 2008.
My sincere advice to all those who yearn to see real changes taking place in this country is to recognise the reality that this is a multiracial country, with Malays forming only slightly above 50 percent of the population. It is hence totally unrealistic to force Islamisation on such a country without multiracial consent.
There is only one future for this country, and that is the government's and the people's full acceptance of multiculturalism and happy co-existence of religions under a governance that practices universal values of justice and equality.
To those exuberant muktamar delegates who champion PAS as the new ruler and with its leader as the prime minister, I urge them to give serious thought to the hard truth that they can only have one of the following two options:
Either to rule the country in equal and equitable partnership with PKR and DAP on the currently agreed common agenda or to continue to force the pace of Islamisation without the expressed consent of the other races, in which case all the three partners of Pakatan will continue to remain in the opposition for God knows how long.
The clock for the next election is ticking, and it is now up to the wisdom of the leaders of Pakatan to undo the damage of the 58th PAS muktamar in the shortest possible time.
・KIM QUEK is a retired accountant and author of the banned book ‘The March to Putrajaya'.
(3) PAS likes to bring down successful Muslims, says MP, 20 November 2012
by Aidila Razak
PAS was today accused of attacking “successful Malays and Muslims” after its MPs questioned the high wages and bonuses reaped by chief executive officers (CEOs) and senior management in government-linked companies (GLCs).
In particular, Mohamad Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) was sore with PAS MPs Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) and Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS-Kuala Selangor) for questioning the remuneration package enjoyed by Tabung Haji CEO Ismee Ismail.
“(Ismee) is Malay, Muslim. It is as if PAS is targeting him simply because he is Muslim. That’s enough. Be thankful to Tabung Haji and thank God that Muslims from Malaysia can perform the haj well because of Tabung Haji’s work.
“You keep deriding Muslims, even in your doa (prayer) you are asking for bad things. Why is that they will slam Muslims who are successful?
“Is this what PAS does? Assume the best. We are all Muslims,” Mohamad said during the committee level debate on the Human Resources Ministry budget allocation.
He added that the Tabung Haji CEO deserves the rewards as he oversees many different subsidiaries, from plantations to pilgrimages.
He also asked why PAS had not questioned the salaries of the other GLC CEOs.
Mahfuz had during the second reading budget debates revealed that Ismee receives RM85,000 a month.
Meanwhile, Dzulkefly today questioned why Sime Darby CEO Mohd Bakke Salleh received RM5.2 million in remuneration for the financial year 2011/2012.
The Malaysian Reserve reported that Sime Darby had paid 12 to 14 months' bonus to its plantation managers and senior staff, much to the ire of the plantation unions.
It's about an equitable pay scale
Giving Mohamad his 'congratulations' for the retort, Dzulkefly said that if the Tabung Haji CEO deserved such a remuneration package, then the rest of the staff should also be equitably rewarded.
“This is what causes inequality of income... it is about a fair labour policy that can distribute the nation's wealth, and not just to CEOs and chief financial officers,” he said.
Dzulkefly said data from the Department of Statistics showed that while the per capita gross national income was RM23,700 a month as at 2009, the average household income is about half of that, at RM11,208 a year.
“(The ministry) talks about per capita gross national income, but then you have the household income which shows the suffering of the working class, be it in the public or private sector,” he added.
(4) The politics of accommodation in PAS, 20 November 2012
by Bridget Welsh
Islamist parties throughout the world are grappling with new roles and responsibilities. PAS is no exception.
The discussions at the party’s muktamar held in Kota Bharu last weekend highlight that PAS is adapting to new conditions globally and nationally, and in fact embracing reform.
Perhaps more than any party in Malaysia, PAS is engaging in accommodation.
Despite news reports focusing on the comments of one or two individuals - a common feature, especially in the reporting of Malaysia’s Islamic party - PAS is moving towards a more nationally-oriented position in which it can play a prominent role as a partner in an alternative government.
In fact, judging by its actions and the meeting taken as a whole rather than the words reported, the muktamar highlights that PAS is continuing to embrace more progressive positions, especially among its leadership.
Its challenges, however, have more to do with winning over its more parochial and conservative membership that is reluctant to change and struggling to adapt and understand a more complex and demanding political environment.
We are for Pakatan
One message that resounded at the muktamar was PAS' commitment to Pakatan Rakyat. Every component of the party - from the ulama and the spiritual leader to the women’s wing - stated categorically that PAS was an integral part of the alternative coalition.
In fact, those linked to the alternative position of ‘unity’ with Umno were conspicuously absent. The unity group has been marginalised in PAS, and even faced open criticism for taking positions in public that conflict with the consensus of the leadership.
The surprising person leading the charge in this criticism was no other than one of the most conservative ulama, Harun Din. Definitively, PAS has taken a stand: we are for Pakatan.
This message was apparent in other ways as well. Rather than present its own alternative vision of governance - as has happened in the past with the welfare state concept, for example - the thrust was on reaffirming connections to the common platform, notably the Buku Jingga.
This sense of collaboration was repeatedly echoed in the inclusion of non-Malays (whose support is essential for the party to hold onto its current seats and make electoral gains in states like Negeri Sembilan and Johor) and in engagement with the artistic and cultural communities.
Importantly, discussion on the decisive, dividing issue of hudud was muted as its leaders aimed to show that, in the spirit of consensus, they would seek common ground. Repeatedly, the call for political consensus, tahaluf siyasi, was made - a consensus that its Pakatan partners will find essential.
The PAS at this muktamar was not wedded to the past, but engaged in outreach for the future. The image of PAS as a group of mullah defending narrow conceptualisations of tradition and religion, banning social activities and limiting freedoms is no longer fair. The identity of PAS as a political party is changing.
While some in the old guard and their protégées in the Youth wing are uncomfortable with PAS’ more modern open approach, the leadership as a whole, presided by Abdul Hadi Awang and reinforced by an overwhelming majority of progressives in the central committee and as members of parliament, embraced collaboration and greater tolerance.
The repeated attacks on Umno and Najib Abdul Razak’s tenure further illustrated that their sights are focused in its partnership in Pakatan. Closing the meeting on the last day with a prayer for Umno’s defeat in elections was a powerful signal.
The affirmation of a Pakatan commitment has been overshadowed by questions arising from mainstream media reports on the muktamar, namely the issue of whether Hadi Awang wants to be premier and whether he supports Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in that position.
Attention continues to centre on possible points of division, with the hope of driving a wedge among parties that have worked and governed together for four years.
Hadi Awang repeated that he does not want the premiership. Many people, however, refuse to accept his response.
Tackling trust deficits
Globally, Islamist parties face trust deficits. PAS faces this on multiple fronts - from whether the party is truly loyal to the opposition to their goals in office. PAS is also hounded by its past, when it joined Umno in the 1970s, only to lose its credibility, and its soul. Memories of PAS’ betrayal of the trust of voters run deep, especially among older voters.
Even more suspicion exists among liberals and/or non-Muslims who believe that PAS is the driver of religious intolerance, curbs on religious freedom and limits on women’s rights.
Years of media socialisation and PAS’s own record in places like Terengganu underscore this anxiety and it only takes a few trigger words such as “hudud” or “ulama leadership” to open the floodgates of possible additional trauma.
The fact is that trust once broken is very hard to rebuild. In this muktamar, PAS’ challenge of building trust manifested itself clearly as focus continued to be on the triggers of division rather than on cohesion. A question that arises from this muktamar is whether PAS can overcome this trust deficit with those who are inclined toward suspicion. Are doubts so embedded that views cannot change?
What is not always clearly understood is that PAS’s current young leadership is also facing a trust deficit from the old guard in the party. The proponents of internal distrust come from the protégées of the old guard ulama in the Youth wing.
While the rank-and-file are committed to Pakatan, some of the PAS’ delegates at the muktamar are uncertain about the progressive path adopted by the current leaders. This was evident in the attack on party organ Harakah for its open coverage of news. It was also evident in personal attacks on progressive PAS leaders who espouse tolerance.
The source of this distrust is multiple - many in the old guard are staunchly conservative and resist reform. PAS is not the only party with old fashioned outlooks, but disproportionally the party has many of them. The more cutting element of distrust comes from the fact that some of the progressives have openly called for an end to the ulama leadership of the party.
Some of the ulama feel under attack and this reinforces their defensiveness and, in some cases, reactionary responses. The ulama are uncomfortable with displacement and accepting accommodation as they feel this leads to their marginalisation. They are uneasy with the dissolution of their influence and this feeds into the distrust from within.
Political tests and risks
Bringing a party toward reform is never easy, especially when old mindsets persist. It is compounded when there are interests involved. It was thus clear that the progressive PAS leadership is facing its biggest test in the next election battle. They have to show with electoral victories that their approach is earning support.
It is not enough for the progressives to point to coalitions between Islamists and other groups in countries like Tunisia and Turkey, for the PAS progressive leadership has to deliver at home. A failure to win seats will allow the traditional, conservative old guard to return to the leadership.
This election is as much about Pakatan as it is about the future of Islamism in Malaysia. Voters will decide whether PAS is more tolerant, more democratic and inclusive, or whether it returns to the dark ages and pushes Malaysia away from a modern future.
Make no bones about it, the dark forces in PAS are waiting for the chance to come back to power at any sign of weakness of the current progressive leaders in the party.
On some fronts, they have interests in the failure of the PAS progressives. The old guards and their protégées want a return of stronger conservative ulama leadership, and are uncomfortable with the spiritual role that the ulama currently hold. They know that if PAS does well electorally, it will minimise the possibility of ulama taking on more positions in the helm of the party.
They also fear further displacement with greater electoral gains and winning government. Many ulama lack the skills to take on technocratic governing positions, and those with old guard mindsets are often too closed in outlook to win over the support needed for electoral victory. Insecurity among some inside the party fuels the internal distrust.
PAS delegates are also frustrated that they are on the firing line electorally. Many feel that PAS is competing in the most difficult seats, in Felda areas for example, and has uphill battles to win seats.
As the pouring of goodies continues in the Malay heartland in the rural constituencies dominated by state-owned media, PAS faces a serious struggle to win over voters.
Many delegates felt that the obstacles they face electorally in winning Malay votes was not appreciated within Pakatan and some even worried that the coming general election could lead to their marginalisation in the governing coalition.
The new role in Pakatan is not just about commitment to the coalition, but confidence that the party will continue to have a place and prominent position. Many delegates expressed the desire to be better treated in Pakatan, as an asset and partner.
Three-pronged approach
While seats are competitive for all the parties, disproportionally PAS as a party does have serious obstacles in making electoral gains. The party is locked in a battle with Umno for Malay votes, and grappling with effective approaches to woo and reach non-Malay voters. What is telling is that advocating for hudud is not prominent among these approaches.
Instead there are three prongs in PAS’ contemporary engagement.
Foremost, PAS centres on the issue of corruption. This is the moral core of its campaign, the call for voters to reject abuses of power. The steps taken to declare assets within the party at the muktamar reveals that it is building safeguard procedures within the party.
Second, PAS has emphasised greater representativeness in its slate of candidates. It is bringing in more technocrats, former civil servants, entrepreneurs and security personal, and women. PAS is extending its umbrella to include more pluralism is its prospective candidates.
Finally, PAS has reaffirmed its adherence to democratic principles. When speaking to the delegates in his closing speech, Hadi Awang emphasised a premiership based on electoral performance, consensus and representativeness. Motions from the floor supported electoral reform movement Bersih and continued the commitment to electoral reform.
What was perhaps more telling in democratic governance was the willingness to allow open views from delegates to be expressed. This muktamar was not a controlled event as delegates were allowed to raise concerns, and some of the points from the floor bordered on the bizarre.
Unlike Umno, PAS has held party elections in the last few years and its leaders do have a party mandate. The leaders within the party faced criticism openly, a sign of strength not weakness.
One of the most striking elements in this muktamar within PAS was the appreciation of difference. The reality is that the delegates know there are different views, but these differences were acceptable. The tolerance of difference within PAS has grown in its evolution in Pakatan.
To judge a party based on its party congress is ultimately a flawed exercise. At best, the muktamar is a venue to assess trends and directions. Pakatan loyalty, progressive leadership and strengthening democracy stood out. This said, there are differences within PAS over many issues, from hudud and ulama leadership to electoral strategies.
But differences are normal. What is important is the way differences are addressed - through debate, engagement and adherence to principles. The 58th muktamar showed that the PAS is not shying away from these tough issues, an important evolution for any party hoping to win support to govern nationally.
・DR BRIDGET WELSH is associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University and she can be reached at bwelsh@smu.edu.sg. She was an observer at the 58th PAS Muktamar in Kota Baru.
(5) PAS: AES using vehicles with JPJ logo to install cameras, 20 November 2012
by Leanne Tan
PAS has lodged police reports against AES contractors for allegedly using vehicles with the Road Transport Department’s (JPJ) colours and logo to install the cameras at various locations.
Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar and Jerai MP Mohd Firdaus Jaafar made the reports at the Dang Wangi police headquarters today.
They each made a report claiming that two vehicles, one registered to ATES Sdn Bhd and one registered to Preferred Synergy Sdn Bhd, were caught on camera bearing JPJ’s colours and logo.
Mahfuz urged the police to probe the matter under Section 170 of the Penal Code for impersonation and Section 171 for intention to mislead.
“We feel that this is a violation because how can law enforcement be handled by a private company?” exclaimed Mahfuz.
“Does this mean that after this if we want to enforce the law regarding (for example) robbery, we can privatise it to any party?
“This shows that the handling of AES is very suspicious,” he said, adding that it creates suspicion on what is stated in the contract between the government and the companies involved.
Mahfuz and Firdaus also showed photos of the vehicles, which were supposedly captured in Gombak (top) and Teluk Intan (bottom) on an unknown date this month.
In the top photo, employees were seen setting up the cameras and unloading equipment out from an orange red vehicle. The workers were wearing traffic vests with ‘BTSB’ printed behind.
In the bottom picture, an orange red vehicle with blue and yellow stripes is parked at the side of a road behind a sign with the speed limit of 60kph.
Both vehicles were photographed from the back, thus revealing their car plate numbers.
Malaysiakini also found another photograph circulating on the Internet depicting a vehicle allegedly owned by an AES contractor with the JPJ logo on its side. The logo is followed by the text ‘Automated Enforcement System Mobile Unit'.
Mahfuz, who leads the PAS-linked anti-postal summons group Kase, said that they cross-checked the vehicles’ registered numbers on the JPJ website, which revealed the companies that owned the vehicles.
When asked by a reporter, Mahfuz confirmed that they will bring the matter up in Parliament and further added that PAS will set up a counter tomorrow at its headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut to help those with AES summonses.
(6) Hadi Awang's compelling straddle in PAS divide, 20 November 2012
by Terence Netto
The way PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has straddled the obvious divide in his party between those who are untroubled about their participation in Pakatan Rakyat and those who are uncomfortable with it compels attention.
It's a divide that has the potential to break up the party, with both sides acutely conscious of the possibility a consideration that has the salutary effect of restraining them from taking their claims too far.
Thus PAS has emerged from its annual general assembly last week in Kota Baru with the fissures between its Pakatan enthusiasts and its doubters self-evident, but not self-immolating.
Credit for that belongs to the president. Like a canoeist paddling on both sides of the craft as it negotiates rapids, Hadi has managed with a certain amount of panache to keep both factions within the fold while leaving everyone guessing as to where he actually stands.
This has been a balancing act of some shrewdness which he has been brought off by a blend of the preemptive and the proactive.
The manoeuvres by which he achieved his purpose of balancing the two sides began a few months ago when he publicly intimated that he wanted his party to relieve him of the need to contest both state and parliamentary seats.
He said he preferred instead to campaign for the party in general rather than be lumbered with the added tasks of concentrating on the Rhu Rendang state and Marang parliamentary wards, of which he is the elected representative.
In Malay political culture, a candidate must seem to be retiring rather than pert, the better he embellishes his credentials for elevation within the hierarchy.
Moreover, in a specifically Muslim political culture, it is the done thing to appear otherworldly which Hadi managed to convey by saying he actually preferred to go fishing off the coast of Terengganu rather than mind the electoral waters that work the Rhu Rendang and Marang legislative turbines.
This blend of self-effacement and otherworldliness had the desired effect in that not only did luminaries from both sides of the divide in the party clamour for Hadi to stay put, but also Pakatan supremo Anwar Ibrahim was on record as saying that Hadi's services were essential to the opposition coalition.
Sticking point
After that, it was time for him to doff his cap to the pro-Pakatan side, which he did by claiming that PAS gains by cooperating with the DAP within the Pakatan fold.
This collaboration is a sticking point with orthodox elements in PAS to whom Karpal Singh's "over my dead body" stance on the Islamic state of several years ago - from which the DAP chairperson recanted - rattles like an intruder in the attic of the party's collective memory.
Hadi's limning of the benefits of PAS' working together with the DAP went some way in reminding hardliners that no party can govern a racially and religious diverse country like Malaysia alone.
Hadi's stance here was a salutary reminder that for a party to govern Malaysia at the federal level, it has to have the cooperation of non-Muslims to do that effectively.
He also reminded his listeners that PAS had elected to cooperate with DAP and PKR to save the country from the depredations inflicted by a half-century of BN misrule.
This was a deft touch because in their ardour for an ideological purity that would frown on cooperation with adamant secularists like the DAP, PAS hardliners are apt to forget the advanced decay in which BN rule has left the country.
An Islamic party would be derelict in its obligations to the ummah if it disdained to cooperate with non-Muslims from pristine considerations.
Praise for the benefits of cooperation with DAP was followed by a proactive foray by Hadi when a fortnight before the PAS annual general assembly, he said that he would be willing to contest the Pekan parliamentary seat occupied by Prime Minister and BN chief Najib Abdul Razak.
This was a startling offer. It smacked of a game of one-upmanship in which Hadi was seen to want to have the better of his peers in the top tier of the Pakatan leadership cohort.
It was also calculated to appease those elements in PAS who are distinctly discomfited with the notion of Anwar Ibrahim, whom they view as an exponent of religious pluralism, as prime minister-designate of Pakatan.
By offering to contest against Najib in his Pekan bastion, Hadi was subtly signalling these elements that he is not exactly content to play second fiddle to Anwar in Pakatan.
The offer to contest was more symbolic than substantive and was preemptive in that it placed Hadi in the enviable situation where when, at the party assembly, a member of the ulama wing said that he ought to be Pakatan's PM-designate, Hadi could demure on the grounds that he was more interested in ensuring a victory for Pakatan than in lofty spoils.
Often in politics, preemptive positioning matters more than one's real stance in the crunch and here Hadi, in golfing parlance, had himself nicely pre-positioned to finesse a difficult lie.
A two-hour presidential speech at the PAS assembly without touching on the controversial hudud issue while plugging the concept of Islamic welfare was another instance of Hadi's shrewd paddling which he followed up nicely by discounting Dr Mahathir Mohamad's challenge that PAS should want to impose hudud laws on everyone, and not just Muslims.
The PAS president reiterated that if his party were to impose hudud, it would be for Muslims only.
The political straddle is not an elevated art but in Hadi Awang's hands these last months, he has given it a deft touch which reminds observers anew that politics is indeed the arena of the possible.
・TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them. It is the ideal occupation for a temperament that finds power fascinating and its exercise abhorrent.
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