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Umno-Pas merger like a cat-goat crossbreed, says Dr M
©The
Sun (Used by permission)
by Husna Yusop
• Non starter for PAS-Umno merger
KUALA LUMPUR(July 31, 2008) : PAS decided today against any cooperation with the
Barisan Nasional or Umno to form a government, either at the state or federal
level, be it in the form of power-sharing or merger.
Speaking to reporters at the party headquarters after chairing a joint-meeting
of the party’s Central Committee and Ulama Syura (Consultative) Council, party
president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said with this decision, "any offer from
Umno to set up a joint-government at all levels does not arise".
He said the party will however continue to have talks or discussions with
anyone, including political parties, non-governmental organisations,
institutions and individuals in the interest of the country and ummah.
Abdul Hadi also reiterated PAS’ stand to remain in Pakatan Rakyat, a coalition
of opposition parties that helms five state governments.
"I would like to reiterate our stand to remain in Pakatan by playing an active
and positive role in line with our collective struggle, including our fight to
change the government. In this context, we would like to invite Umno MPs to join
Pakatan, either (through) PAS or PKR, so that we can support this struggle
together."
He said the decisions reached during the five-hour meeting yesterday have always
been the party’s stand all this while and were further reinforced during the
discussions.
He said the question of "secret meetings" between PAS and Umno leaders does not
arise as it is no longer confidential.
"There is nothing confidential now. We have said that we can meet and of course,
the meetings would be made known to the party. And all these while too, they
(previous PAS-Umno talks) have always been made known to the party," he added.
As to whether the meetings will be called muqabalah (face-to-face
meeting) or muzakarah (discussion), he said: "I have used the word
pertemuan (meeting) in general, it does not matter what term is used."
Asked when PAS will make its offer to the Umno parliamentarians, he said: "That
you have to wait when the time comes."
To a question, Abdul Hadi said the party appreciates the support from
non-Muslims, especially during the last general election, and in future, it
plans to give a more substantial role for non-Muslim supporters to play within
the political realm.
Asked his stand in relation to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy allegation
case, he said he had stated before that PAS as an Islamic party wants the issue
to be settled through the Islamic Syariah method.
"I refer to Article 121(a)(1) of the Federal Constitution that all cases related
to a Muslim must be referred to the Syariah court. If this cannot be done, Umno
must make the necessary changes. I don’t want for this issue to be politicised,"
he added.
Asked whether he supports Anwar, he said: "I defend whoever is being victimised
(dizalimi) including Anwar, and according to the Islamic law, a person
who is accused is not guilty (until proven guilty)."
Non starter for PAS-Umno merger
Comment by Zainon Ahmad
THEY should not have bothered. That seemed to be the view of a number of
dyed-in-the-wool PAS members on recent talk about the possibility of their party
and Umno sharing power or even merging.
They were right and are breathing easy again now that all talk of merger or even
power sharing, like many times in the past, is aborted. They agree, of course,
that whether muzakarah or muqabalah this is hardly going to be the
last word said on the subject.
Some of them say that if their views were sought by their party officials at the
early stages of the talk they would tell them straight in the face that merger
is a dead horse.
Because it drew a lot of public attention for a couple of months and involved
top officials of the party, the talk is likely to be raised at the PAS general
assembly beginning Aug 13.
Some people are going to be mauled. And it is to mitigate what may turn out to
be an unprecedented ugly muktamar is one of the reason the special Pas
central working committee was called yesterday mostly to evaluate the talk that
was beginning to focus more on power sharing and merger.
PAS members say they are generally grouped under those who are die-hard or
dyed-in-the-wool members, who constitute the majority, those who can work with
other parties but not Umno, and those who may tolerate working with Umno over
the question of Malay unity.
According to die-hard Pas members their party is gradually gaining greater
acceptance among the Malays as reflected in the number of parliamentary seats
the party won in 1999 and on March 8 and believe they will win more in the next
general election. So why bother?
They believe that Pas, as told to them by their leaders, was cheated in 2004 but
they are confident the party will one day rule Malaysia either singly or at the
head of a coalition dominated by their party. For them it is better for Umno and
Pas to remain separate.
"For the moment there is no real danger of the Malays losing political power,"
said Pas secretary general Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar who do not see any real need
for the two parties to merge or even share power.
Among the argument against the continuation of the talk on power sharing or
merger raised at the fiery meeting yesterday was the opposition of the voters,
both Malays and non-Malays, who had voted for Pas candidates for the first time
.
Among those who tried to discourage the talk from zeroing on on power sharing
and even merger was none other than the party spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz
Nik Mat. The wily Kelantan Pas icon who is known for his distaste for working
with Umno suggested some outrageous terms before the two parties could merge.
One was that the merged party should champion the cause of implementing Hudud
punishments and Qisas laws in the country which effectively means the new party
should work towards turning Malaysia into a theological Islamic state.
It may have appealed to Pas members but it was a sure way of killing the idea
among Umno members. While there were those schmaltz who screamed "Malay unity is
good for national unity" there are also many Umno stalwarts who feel that
Barisan Nasional is still a good idea.
Some PAS officials admit that it was the declaration by PKR de facto leader
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that it was possible to topple the BN federal
government with the help of crossovers from Sabah and Sarawak that triggered the
two parties to woo each other.
For the BN and Umno leaders it is obvious. Should Anwar manage to entice 31 of
the 54 BN MPs from the two East Malaysia states to join the loose Pakatan Rakyat
opposition coalition of 81 Dewan Rakyat members (PKR 31, DAP 28 and PAS 23), it
will mark the end of the rule of a coalition which had ruled the country since
Merdeka. To stay in power it must deny Anwar the numbers.
Less obvious is PAS reason for wanting to talk to Umno. For the party which
wants to remain true to its ideology and long term objective for turning
Malaysia into a theological Islamic state, some of its leaders do not relish the
thought of being a junior partner with secularists in a national ruling
coalition.
They do not want it to be political capital for its enemies, especially Umno ---
if it still remain a formidable force should the BN government falls --- in the
next general election.
To people like deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa talking with Umno may offer
alternatives that may be more acceptable. Thus, he was at the forefront of the
Umno-Pas dialogue billed as Malay unity talk.
But it is clear now, even before the muktamar which is about a fortnight away,
that the core members of the party are against sharing power or merging with
Umno.The two parties can, of course, continue to talk to each other. But for
Umno, what is there to talk about?
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