Why Is UMNO Trying to Out-Islamize PAS?

For the untrained and unfamiliar eyes and ears, the ongoing UMNO AGM may come across as a run-of-the-mill Islamic party convention.

We have Muhyiddin Yaasin reciting more than one verse from the Quran, claiming that UMNO is the true vanguard of Islam in Malaysia, slamming PAS for not holding true to their Islamic principle and many more.

We also have Najib Tun Razak saying that "Malaysia is an Islamic country with a vibrant Islamic finance, enshrined syariah law and an Islamic economy"

In fact another low level UMNO Penang rep by the name of Reezal Neena Merican claims UMNO to be a party chosen by God to fight for Islam. In addition, the Penang rep accuses the MB of Kelantan being an apostate (kafir).

It's all pretty amazing to me. The rhetorics that once use to be PAS's domain has been hijacked by UMNO.

That begs the question why?

Rhetorics on Islam is usually an instrument to attact Muslims into voting for PAS. UMNO on the other hand has been boasting record levels of Malay support since 2008. Some UMNO sources claim that the Malay support for UMNO is at 75%. In layman terms, for every 100 Malay voters, 75 of them will vote for Barisan Nasional.

If this is so, why then resort to Islamic rhetorics? Why need to appeal to the base that UMNO has already commanded?

I believe that UMNO is noticing a recent surge of PAS everywhere in Malaysia especially among Malay voters.

UMNO is detecting that more and more Malays have decided to back PAS and are convinced that UMNO is heading to the exit. As a result, more and more Malays are deciding to back PAS due to the impending UMNO downfall from the seat of power.

Since PAS has Islamic credentials, more and more Malays are moving away from UMNO towards PAS because of PAS's committment to Islam.

I believe the out-islamizing strategy adopted by UMNO is to stem this tide. They need to get the Malays to come back to them and not be convinced that PAS is the solution.

They need the Malays to think that the real representative of Islam is UMNO. Otherwise, their doom is inevitable.

That's why they need to sound like PAS.

Too bad for UMNO, Islam is not just words but requires actions as well. Not too long ago, the DAP out-islamize UMNO by resisting UMNO's approval of the football betting license to Vincent Tan.

TULANG BESI