CoFfEE witH PUNithAN

Here, i would like to highlight an article by Mr. Brandan Kuppusamy, a journalist who choose to see and pen down Fair comments on 'both sides'.

The electorate believe they woke up to a new Malaysia on March 8 minus race, religion and discrimination and therefore it comes as a shock that the very same people who had preached “common human” values have fallen back on old habits.

PAS’ stance over the 30% bumiputra quota is the latest of several which has pitted it against its Pakatan Rakyat colleagues. This does not augur well for the coalition which hopes to win the hearts of all Malaysians.

(ref: -MIC, MCA and PAS on NEP )

PAS is returning to its old habits frequently showing an intolerance that is not in keeping with its preferred image now as a tolerant, moderate Islamic party that champions common values in a multi-ethnic party.

Guided by Pakatan Rakyat leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS discarded its core demand of a theocratic state to win over non-Malays on a “common values” platform in the March 8 general election.

Although PAS came in third in the number of seats won, it added Kedah to its stable and has a big say in Selangor and Perak.

But the party’s increasingly Malay nationalistic and Islamic postures are ringing alarms bells in the Pakatan Rakyat and among civil society activists.

The incidents are too numerous to be isolated and form a pattern suggesting that although moderates abound in PAS but the party as a whole is shifting to a hard-line position on numerous issues.

Clearly the party is caught between satisfying non-Muslim desire for equality and an end to discrimination and defending its Malay Muslim ground were there is fear that conceding to social equality is a “loss” to Malay society.

The party has grown in numbers in recent years and now has over one million Malays as members and growing phenomenally forcing it to speak up and defend “Malay rights” as well as Islam as Umno does.

But it still wants to keep non-Malay support it had earned in March and expand that support. Without this support it can never have much say in a Federal Government even if Pakatan Rakyat wins.

“We are caught in a quandary between defending Malay rights and keeping the support of non-Malays who had backed us and see us now as a moderate, liberal party,” said a senior PAS leader on condition of anonymity.

“We are unable to resolve this dilemma as yet,” he said.

In Kedah PAS wants 50% of house ownership reserved for bumiputras and in Selangor it is against a Chinese heading the state development corporation PKNS.

PAS has also openly and strongly opposed entertainment it considers un-Islamic although to most non-Muslims such events are tame affairs.

PAS involvement in the mob that broke up a Bar Council inter-faith forum in September is another example of rising intolerance which puts the party in the spotlight.

The party had also said it would not support a Pakatan Rakyat government that was not majority Muslim

Activists like human rights lawyer Haris Ibrahim of the Peoples Parliament initiative are questioning not only PAS but also the Pakatan Rakyat coalition’s commitment to abandon race based politics, champion equality and meritocracy.

In the most recent posting in his Peoples Parliament website entitled Is Pakatan Rakyat perpetuating race based politics?, PAS and the Pakatan government and even Anwar Ibrahim came in for some criticism for not defending multi-culturalism and meritocracy.

Harris is asking the public to write to their elected representatives to remind them of the egalitarian promise they had made to the people.

Within the Pakatan Rakyat too the relationship between PAS and the DAP is increasingly rocky with numerous policy differences surfacing every now and then.

The latest squabble is over the MCA proposal to do away with the 30% bumiputra equity requirement, a proposal openly condemned by PAS but supported by the DAP.

For PAS, however, the dilemma is much more complex it being a party based entirely on defending and promoting Islam.

On the one hand, it frequently falls on the values of Islam to defend rights, namely over the rights of Hindu Rights Action Front supporters to demonstrate even at the Prime Minister’s Hari Raya gathering but at the same time the party rejects the appointment of a Chinese as PKNS general manager.

It is a case of running with the fox and hunting with the hounds with political expediency as the main consideration not the “common values” that PAS had subscribed to before the March 8 general elections.

The PKR is also in a similar dilemma having to carry an MP like Zulkifli Noordin whose exclusive and unbridled promotion of Islam runs counter to the party’s moderation and multi-religious underpinnings.

The electorate believe they woke up to a new Malaysia on March 8 minus race, religion and discrimination and therefore it comes as a shock that the very same people who had preached “common human” values have fallen back on old habits.

COMMENT
By BARADAN KUPPUSAMY

Apa dah jadi to pakatan's mutual agreement just before the GE-12??? The GE-12 political tsunami was because of BN's failure NOT because of Pakatan's performance .... So.... GE-13 might not be the same................

If, BN manages to reform and rectify their cons .... will they (BN) face a favorable tsunami in near future?......

…And we, the rakyat of Malaysia of all races and of various faiths, now declare that we reject raced-based systems of governance of the country in favour of non race-based, integrated systems of governance…

This is an excerpt from The People’s Voice & The People’s Declaration, the document that was endorsed by, amongst others, DAP, PKR and PAS in February this year, just before the 12th GE.