PASMA: PAS BARU

Anwar was hoping that Hadi would be out of office by now. But Hadi is still holding on so efforts need to be stepped up to ensure a leadership change in PAS. And this is what PasMa and the RM1.5 million that Lim Guan Eng gave them is supposed to achieve.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Two weeks ago, on 12th January 2015, the President of Persatuan Ummah Sejahtera Malaysia or PasMa, Phahrolrazi Mat Zawawi, led a delegations of 15 members to meet Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

The purpose of the meeting was to explore how PasMa can collaborate with DAP and PKR for the coming general election expected by 2018 at the latest. Also discussed was the possibility of PasMa becoming a political party to replace PAS in Pakatan Rakyat.

Is PasMa going to become PAS Baru? And does this mean PAS is on the verge of leaving Pakatan Rakyat or is going to get kicked out of Pakatan Rakyat?

The talk on the ground is that it would be untenable for PAS to remain in Pakatan Rakyat unless they change their President. DAP and PKR can continue working with PAS only if Abdul Hadi Awang is kicked out and is replaced by, say, Mat Sabu, the current number two.

What was not reported was that Lim Guan Eng gave PasMa RM1.5 million, which is supposed to be for flood relief work. However, so far none of that RM1.5 million has been used for the purpose it was alleged. Talk amongst PasMa circles is that the RM1.5 million is for the purpose of campaigning against Hadi to ensure he is kicked out before the next general election.

It is no secret that Hadi is lukewarm, or maybe even cold, towards DAP and PKR. That is already a well-known fact and Hadi has, in fact, not been attending any of the Pakatan Rakyat council meetings since the last year or so. And the Kajang Move plus the move to oust Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim is not the only reason for this.

DAP and PKR are very upset that Hadi no longer supports what Pakatan Rakyat considers the coalition’s common agenda. As Anwar Ibrahim always says, Pakatan Rakyat agrees to disagree. Hence Hadi has agreed to disagree with DAP and PKR on many issues. Other than the Kajang Move and the move to oust Khalid, Hadi also disagrees with DAP and PKR regarding the implementation of Hudud in Kelantan and the proposal for local council elections.

As the Malays would say: tidur satu bantal, mimpi lain-lain. PAS no longer shares the same dreams with DAP, while PKR either maintains an elegant silence or agrees to disagree with PAS.

It is not easy to sleep in the same bed and share the same pillow while having different dreams. And PAS has to now consider sharing DAP’s and PKR’s dreams or else they will have to leave the bedroom. And if this happens then PasMa will need to replace PAS in the Pakatan Rakyat bed.

Anwar Ibrahim has other problems on his hands and has no time to engage DAP and PAS in their marital problems. On 10th February 2015, the Federal Court will be delivering its verdict on Anwar’s sodomy conviction and this is of immediate concern to the opposition leader.

Will Anwar be set free or will he be sent to jail? Anwar is telling the public that there is no reason he should be sent to jail because there is no case against him.

What the Federal Court will have to consider is not whether Anwar is innocent or guilty of sodomy. That is not really the concern of the Federal Court. Instead, what the Federal Court needs to consider is whether there were any flaws in the trial and whether the Court of Appeal erred in overturning the acquittal and in coming to a guilty verdict.

The outcome will depend on whether Anwar’s lawyers were successful in convincing the court that the trial was flawed and that the Court of Appeal had erred in overturning the acquittal and in convicting Anwar. If so then the Federal Court would have to overturn the decision of the Appeal Court and Anwar would walk free.

In anticipation of an unfavourable verdict, Anwar is telling the world that he will be freed and in the event he is not freed then he would be a victim of a political conspiracy. Anwar is laying the ground for a revival of the Reformasi Movement, which emerged during his Sodomy 1 trial.

Reformasi 1, however, was successful because of PAS. Hence if PAS does not support Reformasi 2 then it will die at childbirth. And Anwar knows that Hadi will not waste time supporting Reformasi 2. In fact, most PAS leaders, Mat Sabu included, are of the opinion that Anwar is guilty.

Anwar knows that PAS will not support Reformasi 2 because during the recent hearing PAS did not mobilise any crowd as a show of support. Rafizi Ramli had sent instructions to all the PKR branches to send down a few busloads of supporters to attend the hearing. The aim was to get at least 50,000 supporters but all they got was a few hundred, and hardly any PAS members.

This upset Anwar even further. If he cannot get tens of thousands onto the streets then he cannot pressure the government to release him. He was hoping for a Tahrir Square scenario but a few hundred on the streets does not quite make it. And this is what worries Anwar.

Anwar was hoping that Hadi would be out of office by now. But Hadi is still holding on so efforts need to be stepped up to ensure a leadership change in PAS. And this is what PasMa and the RM1.5 million that Lim Guan Eng gave them is supposed to achieve.