Analysts divided on impact of Mat Sabu’s ‘mercy to all creations’ pledge

 

At the party’s national convention, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu caused a stir with his pledge to defend any oppressed group, regardless of race or religion.

PETALING JAYA: Political analysts are divided over the impact of a recent call by Amanah president Mohamad Sabu for the party to defend all oppressed groups, regardless of their religious background.

Mazlan Ali said the party’s stand would alienate its traditional Malay voters in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, who would worry that the party was giving more face to the non-Malay community than the Malay-Muslim community.

Mazlan, of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, said opposition parties such as PAS would use this as Perikatan Nasional (PN) had been more appealing to many voters due to its Malay and Muslim message compared with the “mercy to all creations” (rahmatan lil alamin) offered by Amanah.

“Moderate Malays, such as those in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Perak, Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, and those in major cities, as well as the educated and more open-minded, will support Amanah.

“However, traditional Malays living in rural areas, the east coast states, and the northern regions will not support Amanah because they believe the party is influenced by the DAP narrative,” Mazlan told FMT.

He suggested that Amanah expand its grassroots network with more branches and party members, as PAS had done, to spread its message to a wider Malay community and break PAS’s dominance.

Mazlan added that Amanah not only needed more grassroots leaders, it also needed to dominate Malay grassroots institutions such as mosques and village committees to make the party more visible and appealing to the Malay community.

On Sunday, Mohamad said Amanah must make it a point to defend all oppressed groups, regardless of their religious background.

He said this was important as Amanah should reflect the concept of “mercy to all creations” if it wished to attract more non-Muslims.

Meanwhile, Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said Mohamad’s comments would help Amanah gain support from the non-Muslim community without relying too much on DAP and PKR.

He added that Amanah’s strategy was important to forming the government because a political party must be able to win support from both Malay and non-Malay voters.

He cited PAS’s failure to become the government after the last general election despite winning the most seats by any individual party.

“How long can issues of religion and race be used to attract Malay supporters? That’s the problem: PAS only succeeds in attracting Malay supporters, which is why it remains in opposition despite being the strongest party.

“It is not able to gain support from non-Malay voters,” Azmi said. - FMT