THE UMNO, PKR AND PAS INTERNAL STRIFE (PART 1)

Personally I do not support Hudud. But I do support the right of PAS to push ahead since it obtained 100% support in Kelantan. I also do not support the Kajang Move. And I do not support the Kajang Move because PKR has only 13 of the 56 seats in Selangor.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It is not coincidental that Umno, PAS and PKR, Malay-based parties or parties where Malays form their support base, are all in turmoil. Malays, after all, are the backbone of Malaysian politics because 60% of the population is Malay and more than 60% of the seats in Parliament can be considered Bumiputera-majority seats.

Hence the only way to oust Umno from power would be to split the Malay vote into three, as long as the non-Malay votes are 80-85% in favour of the opposition. If the non-Malays were split 50:50 as well then it would be no bloody good. You need solid non-Malay support and a split of the Malay vote.

This has nothing to do with race and is not meant as a racial statement. This is political reality. You need to unite your supporters and split your rivals. And if it has to be done along racial/religious lines then so be it. This is how it is also done in countries like the United States.

Currently, the Malay vote is more or less 50:50. If the Malays are split into three, then both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional would find it impossible to form the federal government without the non-Malay seats plus those from Sabah and Sarawak.

It is simple arithmetic. It is politics.

PAS, more or less, is the kingmaker. If they stay with Pakatan Rakyat then Pakatan Rakyat has a decent chance of forming the next federal government. If they go solo then Pakatan Rakyat would have a lesser change of getting in. And if they swing over to Barisan Nasional, that can make up for the loss of the non-Malay support.

Hence PAS needs to be also split to weaken their ‘bargaining power’.

With the internal turmoil in Umno, PAS and PKR, no one really knows what new alliances are going to be formed to face the next general election. And with a much-weakened Umno, PAS and PKR, Malay political dominance can be eroded. The new kingmakers that are going to emerge would be the parties from Sabah and Sarawak.

He who wins East Malaysia will win the whole of Malaysia.

Finally the East Malaysians can no longer be treated as anak tiri (step-children). They will decide the future and fortunes of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. We are going to, again, see a hung parliament in West Malaysia. And East Malaysia will decide who is going to form the new government.

Hudud and the many other issues concerning Islam are not well received in East Malaysia. Hence the issues regarding Islam must be exploited to the maximum to turn the East Malaysians against whoever is seen as the perjuang Islam. Therefore neither Barisan Nasional nor Pakatan Rakyat must be seen as too Islamic.

That is the reason for the vicious attacks against PAS and the very cautious statements from Umno and PKR regarding Hudud. It is a minefield that will blow you up if you do not step cautiously. Umno and PKR cannot be seen as in support of or in opposition to what many Muslims would view as their Islamic duty.

Some in Pakatan Rakyat want the PAS President ousted from office. Get rid of Abdul Hadi Awang and you get rid of the Hudud problem. They are making it look like Hudud is Hadi’s personal agenda rather that the party agenda.

Are they saying that Hadi alone supports Hudud while the rest of the party does not? Do they mean to say no one else other that just Hadi wants Hudud? Are they telling us that once Hadi is kicked out PAS will announce that they are abandoning their Islamic agenda and will wholeheartedly support a secular state?

This is like saying that only Prime Minister Najib Razak alone supports Ketuanan Melayu and, once Najib is ousted and Muhyiddin Yassin takes over, Umno will announce that they are abandoning Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP and will implement meritocracy in Malaysia.

PAS has never abandoned its Islamic agenda. What it agreed to do was to KIV the matter until the right time. Even Anwar Ibrahim did not openly oppose Hudud. What he said was the time is not yet right and Malaysians need to first be educated on the matter and Hudud must be implemented only when Malaysians are ready for it.

Is Hudud really the issue or is it just an excuse to get rid of Hadi? And is PAS wrong to unilaterally push for Hudud in Kelantan when PKR unilaterally pushed for the Kajang Move in Selangor? If they can agree to disagree regarding Selangor why can’t they also agree to disagree regarding Kelantan?

Pakatan Rakyat obtained less than 50% of the votes in Selangor. Yet PKR went ahead with its plans. Pakatan Rakyat obtained 100% votes in Kelantan. Why is PAS being punished for going ahead with its plans?

Personally I do not support Hudud. But I do support the right of PAS to push ahead since it obtained 100% support in Kelantan. I also do not support the Kajang Move. And I do not support the Kajang Move because PKR has only 13 of the 56 seats in Selangor.

Is this not what democracy is supposed to be about, the rule of the majority? Or does democracy only apply to the government and not to the opposition?

Anyway, I will continue with this in the next article. Yes, there is more to be revealed as to what is happening in Umno, PAS and PKR.