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©New
Straits Times (Used by permission)
by Zainul Arifin
IT would have happened anyway, the meetings between Umno and Pas, if they had
not already.
For despite the seemingly insurmountable differences in
ideologies and sabre-rattling, there remain, at heart, two common denominators
-- their members are overwhelmingly both Malay and Muslim.
Talks of meetings between the two to discuss issues affecting the ummah began
surfacing soon after the 12th general election, once the dirty business of
campaigning and electioneering were out of the way.
In fact, the talks were probably hastened by the outcomes of the elections.
Non-Umno Barisan Nasional component members in West Malaysia did disastrously
for what is believed to be their affiliations with Umno -- remember the posters
"A vote for BN, is a vote for Umno"?
The Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim-led Opposition managed to tap
into the latent anger among non-Malays that BN was too Umno or Malay-centric.
The buzzwords were of course Ketuanan Rakyat and no longer Ketuanan Melayu.
The victories of those -- Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Pas, DAP, etc -- promising to
temper Umno's Malay dominance doctrine have suddenly made it politically
incorrect and dangerous, even for the BN, to champion Malay issues.
At the same time many Malays were uncomfortable by the very public debates on
what they perceived to be their rights and privileges, including that of Islam.
A major opposition leader could even belittle a monarch -- the very symbol of
Malayness -- with nary a peep from Malay politicians in PR.
Perhaps it is a trade-off to nurture the nascent PR.
Thus, paradoxically, despite their numbers, the Malays seem to be losing their
grip on arguments affecting them. Their fractious political base has made them
politically benign.
Among the Malay-dominated parties, it is now left to Umno to talk on Malay
issues, as Pas talks of Islam, and PKR, the new libertarian, champions no Malay
agenda, per se.
Umno is not in the best of health of late, and PR is a Malay majority coalition,
with no dominating Malay agenda.
Race has always been a factor in our politics, as in any country with
multiracial make up. The difference is that for us race has always been touted
as a rallying point for political activism.
From there, parties form coalitions and partnerships to bridge racial
differences.
Political realities and political nirvana are obviously two different things.
Political realities are often grounded on messier constituents, such as race and
religion, which both Pas and Umno claim to generally represent and idealise.
Obviously both of them cannot be right.
But on issues such as race and religion the consequences of disagreements, of
course, can be dire.
Putting religious values to political affiliation have led to --
kafir-mengkafir -- labelling non-party members as infidels, even disallowing
marriages between family members of different parties, and declaring haram meat
slaughtered by others.
This rabid political loyalty, while much courted during polls, divides and
splits the Malays, at times irreparably. Hence, the muzakarah, whose
ultimate aim is for the coming together of the Malays, even if not politically.
Understandably, PKR and DAP while publicly nonchalant about the meetings, were
obviously not too happy. Their leaders all said that PR was still strong, but
you could sense the blue funk building up.
Is the muzakarah the pre-cursor of Pas re-joining BN, which many in PR
are wary about?
Pas spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said it would mean being
bitten by the same snake from the same hole, again.
A merger is unlikely as there exist fundamental ideological differences, which
makes PKR joining BN to be a likelier possibility than Pas' second leap of
faith.
Perhaps the talks could bring Umno and Pas to a common ground on certain issues
affecting Islam and Malay rights, while agreeing to disagree on how best they
would approach the issues.
It is akin to what many suspect to be the "cooperation" between Chinese-led
parties like MCA, DAP and Gerakan on issues affecting common interests, such as
on Chinese schools or language.
At the very least the Umno-Pas talks could lead to less excessive politicking
and lessen the burden of Malay Muslims having to live with political fatwas and
dictates.
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Circular No 304/2008 : Invitation - HR Debate 2008
