Can Pakatan weather the Hadi storm?

All issues raised by BN leaders pertaining to the 'breaking-up' of Pakatan is pure nonsense and must be treated as such.

COMMENT

The suggestion by a PAS delegate that Abdul Hadi Awang be the seventh prime minister of Malaysia should Pakatan Rakyat succeed in winning the 13th general election is actually not a big deal.

As far as knowledge of the workings of PAS is concerned, this columnist dares to say that a Hadi candidature will only get as far as the PAS central working committee (CWC). This is how it works.

The Dewan Ulama will propose Hadi’s name to the Syura Council consisting of religious leaders/ulama headed by Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the PAS spiritual adviser.

After obtaining the endorsement of the Syura Council, Hadi’s name will then be submitted to the PAS CWC which has members consisting of both ulama and professionals.

At the end of the day, even if one million PAS members want Hadi to be the prime minister, the decision is at the hands of the CWC which has 35 decision-makers.

Unlike Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim who has already been endorsed by both the Syura Council and the CWC, Hadi has yet to obtain the endorsement of both the Syura Council and the CWC.

In fact, there are others in PAS with economic expertise who are more suited to the prime minister’s post compared to Hadi but let us not get into that.

Moreover, Anwar has sound economic knowledge and thus the PAS CWC will stick with Anwar and therefore even if PAS wins more seats than its coalition partners, Anwar will still be the prime minister.

So the polemics of this matter can be put to rest although it must be said that that particular PAS delegate who raised this issue at the PAS muktamar (national conference) is unwise to do so at a time when the 13th general election is just around the corner.

As usual, the Barisan Nasional-controlled mainstream media will play up the issue to the hilt by saying that there is no unity or harmony among the Pakatan component parties.

According to a PAS MP, who wished to remain anonymous, the conservatives in PAS have fallen into the trap laid by ex-PAS man Dr Hasan Ali (state assemblyman for Gombak Setia) and the present Bachok MP, Nasharuddin Mat Isa.

“These two men keep harping on PAS’ so-called deviation from its Islamic struggle and this caused the conservatives to try to promote a more Islamic image for PAS. The exuberance displayed by the conservatives no doubt has spilled over into the muktamar,” said this MP.

“However, we adhere to the principle of ‘tahaluf siyasi’ which is the principle of co-operation with our Pakatan allies and this principle has already been endorsed by both the Syura Council and the CWC. This simply means that Anwar will be the prime minister in the event that Pakatan wins the 13th general election,” added the same MP, who is also a member of the high-powered PAS CWC.

Thus this simply means that Hadi’s name will be stuck at the CWC assuming that the Syura Council will endorse him but even this has yet to happen.

Prayer against Umno

Another issue of interest raised by the mainstream media is PAS’ prayer for the downfall of Umno.

It is not so much a prayer for Umno’s downfall as a prayer for the fall of evil. This, of course, is omitted by the ever BN-compliant mainstream media.

At the end of the day it boils down to how savvy or cunning the Malaysian voters are in sifting the wheat from the chaff. Otherwise, BN looks set to win easily in the 13th general election if voters are diverted by this issue played up by the mainstream media.

Malaysian voters must look beyond issues raised by BN leaders, one of which is that Pakatan is breaking up. All issues raised by BN leaders pertaining to the “breaking-up” of Pakatan are pure nonsense and must be treated as such.

Voters must not be side-tracked and must be wise in only one resolve and that is to vote for credible political parties.

No one must ever forget that it is during the tenure of the BN government especially from 2010 till now that we have seen such a blatant increase in the number of illegal immigrants and unskilled workers being given fast-tracked citizenship.

This is the greatest treachery of all time – the selling out of a nation’s citizenship rights. And this traitorous move will continue if the same bunch of rogues with their octopus grip on all the national institutions are voted into power yet again for the umpteenth time.

This means that the wisdom of Malaysian voters will be tested to the utmost as the BN propaganda machine will seize on any and every issue to demonise Pakatan besides spinning half-truths and falsehood to put Pakatan in a bad light.

Therefore, Malaysians must look at the overall bigger picture. What happened at the PAS muktamar is just a storm in a teacup and only a suggestion from an over-enthusiastic delegate – it will fail to carry weight.

Selena Tay is a FMT columnist.