A few good men in PAS

It was recently announced that PAS had dropped Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar from its list of candidates for the 14th general election.

This came around the same time that Mahfuz and three other PAS Kedah assemblypersons attended the Amanah national convention in Alor Setar.

Mahfuz responded by expressing his thanks, saying that to contest under PAS in this next election would be a betrayal to the rakyat, as doing so would only help BN win.

More importantly, Mahfuz also said once again that he would not leave PAS.

"I want to send a message to PAS members that they don't have to leave PAS and join any (Pakatan) Harapan parties, but what is important is for them to support Harapan,” he said.

While Mahfuz has made his pro-Harapan feelings quite clear, it is commendable that he has taken this stance.

His stance recognises the importance of PAS as a movement and a party as a whole, and the cyclic nature of change in PAS’ leadership.

Simply put, there are periods where conservatives run PAS, but there are also periods where progressives run PAS.

Most of the current leaders in Amanah once held some of the highest positions in the party leadership.

It is not far-fetched to imagine that had they stayed in PAS, they and those of similar ideological bents may have risen to the top once again sometime in the future as the wheel turned again.

Uphill battle for new parties

Far be it for an outsider like me to judge the leaders of Amanah too harshly for their decision to form a splinter party.

They are all human beings as well, and if they felt that their position inside PAS had truly become completely untenable for whatever various reasons, then perhaps they indeed just had no choice. I’m not in a position to appraise all the options they had available at the time.

That said, it would appear that the odds of Amanah playing a long-term role in Malaysian politics seem slim at best.

New parties do not have a history of doing well or lasting long in Malaysia. PKR is one of the rare ones that made it through a difficult birth and remained relevant for over a decade.

Most of the rest simply fizzle out after failing to make a serious impact in one or two general elections.

We can speculate and posit a simple reason for this - people like tried and tested products they know well, and consider themselves at least somewhat familiar with.

Introducing new entities, symbols, and ideas into an electorate is an uphill task even in the best of circumstances.

Since the founders of Amanah broke off after losing in the party elections, and after taking some controversial stances (such as in the Kajang Move), one cannot say that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang came out from the episode looking completely like the “bad guy”.

While it is true that since then, PAS has gone further and further into Umno’s waiting arms, this was a somewhat more gradual process - during which time, PAS has been working hard to paint Amanah leaders as discontented, sore losers.

Combine this with the inherent difficulties in getting a new political party off the ground, and the result is a fairly gargantuan task ahead of Amanah.

Bersatu’s position is not much better, with the party sharing a number of parallels with the Amanah experience.

Ready to take up the mantle

What this means is that if Amanah and Bersatu fail to make significant inroads, then in the aftermath of GE14, the only significant party or brand with a proven track record of fighting BN in rural Peninsular Malaysia will once again be PAS.

The inclinations of today’s leaders in PAS are becoming painfully transparent, with PAS’ advisory board chairperson Mustafa Ali (photo) even openly stating that the party should work with Umno.

However, PAS vice-president Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah denied that there are ongoing negotiations with Umno.

My read is that the Hadi-aligned leaders are almost all fully on board with the pro-Umno plan.

At the same time, they know that a very significant chunk of the rank and file of PAS are hardwired such that they will not be able to stomach such an alliance.

They have, after all, spent most of their lives fighting the bitter enemy that is Umno.

Hadi and associates probably want to take things one step at a time, and ease the party membership into the idea of cooperation over time.

My best guess, however, is that PAS will fail terribly at the polls, and one way or another will get played out by Umno - as they have been in the past, time and again.

When that happens, Hadi’s political capital (and the pro-Umno leanings he championed) will have finally run out, and the party will be ripe for a change of leadership.

When that time comes, it is important that there are progressives still within PAS who might be able to take up the mantle of leadership.

By that time, it is hard to say whether even the moderate members of PAS will be able to accept the entire group of people who left for Amanah back into the party, as their actions could be seen as turning their back not only on a set of leaders, but on a party, a movement, and an ideal, that has lasted for decades.

If that is so, it is even more imperative that the few remaining progressives within PAS not quit the party, and instead bide their time, so that they will be ready when the time comes.

By then, a fresh generation may be able to steer the party in a more principled direction, allowing it to play a crucial part in the push towards a better Malaysia.

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NATHANIEL TAN seeks strength and good fortune for the wars to come.- Mkini