New line-up a ray of hope

By Chris Anthony

The new leadership that emerged after the recent PAS elections is indeed a great relief for those beginning to give up hope for change in the political landscape in the country. This comes particularly at a time when the 13th general election is just around the corner.

The peaceful way the elections were conducted puts many other rival parties to shame. There were no bickerings and personal politicking and the decision of the delegates was accepted in a true spirit of democracy. The whole process reveals a high level of maturity on the part of the delegates at the Muktamar.

The speech by the president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, showed a man who in no uncertain terms rejected the various offers to entice the party to form a unity government with BN. His outright rejection brought hopes to many who were against any UMNO-Pas 'unity government' and those skeptical of the party’s intentions.

Despite the lucrative offer, Hadi’s reiteration that PAS would remain in Pakatan is a sign of the party’s sincerity in fighting corruption, a vice that has plagued the nation for too long.

His condemnation of the "disgusting acts like corruption, money politics, slander, racism, lies and all manner of things which embarrass even our children who are watching us” brings hope that an era of civil politics may be in the pipeline. Our mainstream media saw these brave words of the PAS president to be of no importance.

The election of Mohamad Sabu as the PAS deputy president, as well as Salahuddin Ayub, Husam Musa and Mahfuz Omar as vice presidents, is expected to strengthen further Pakatan Rakyat and enhance its aspirations to capture Putrajaya. They together with the many second line leaders in PAS are people with high integrity who have captured the people’s admiration.

Previously, the non-Muslims were generally not interested in the PAS Muktamar, but after the historic elections of March 2008, their interest in the Islamic party increased.

The outcome of the PAS Assembly this time brought hope to a party they had been suspicious before. The party which they used to fear as being associated with 'Islamic fundamentalism' has become more appealing to them today. Why the change of mind?

As members of the non-Muslim minority population we are becoming more and more disillusioned with UMNO-BN as the ruling party. We are deeply hurt and disturbed by the attitude of the UMNO-BN towards us and we see no future for our children if the situation continues. After working together closely for over 50 years, UMNO does not seem to appreciate our contributions to the nation and keeps calling us 'pendatang', questioning our loyalty and allegiance to the country where we were born and bred.

Malaysians have lived together in peace and harmony for over half a century. We have accepted the special position of the bumiputras, Malay as the national language and Islam as the official religion and these are non-issues today. Unfortunately we are still being accused of questioning all these provisions in the Constitution. Where do we go from here with all the focus on race based politics?

We realise the need for a dominant Malay party to govern but UMNO does not seem to be the right party that can protect our interests anymore. We are fast losing our trust in it to defend our rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution. We need to look for an alternative and the recent PAS Assembly has given us hope that PAS and Pakatan can provide that role as the protector of the rights of all Malaysians regardless of race and creed.