Umno-PAS, a marriage of political convenience

If you wish to certify that the food you manufacture is safe for Muslims to consume, you apply to Jakim for a halal certificate and logo. 

If you wish to legitimise your ill-gotten gains, you approach Umno, and if you want to make lying admissible, just ask PAS to make lying syariah compliant.

The union between PAS and Umno was finally cemented, when acting Umno-Baru president, Mohamad Hassan said, "It is official. We are married."

For years, these two parties denied their affair.

We first heard about the clandestine relationship between the PAS president, Hadi Awang, and the former PM, Najib Abdul Razak, when Hadi fell ill in Turkey and Najib visited him in hospital.

This was followed by heady days of courting, when they were seen in town supporting the same events. Later, Hadi displayed his true colours and kicked the "moderates" out of PAS' central committee, but retained the ulama hardliners.

When Hadi attacked his own former coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, both PAS and Umno denied they had discussed forming a unity government.

We were not convinced, because in 2016, the hudud bill was fast-tracked to the top of the Private Members bill, by the former Minister in the PM's Department, Azalina Othman.

The dowry for the PAS/Umno marriage is a handsome RM90 million. For the Masai of Kenya, cows are the symbol of wealth and prestige. In some countries, it is cars. In the conservative state of Kelantan, where women cannot ride a kapcai in jeans, and unmarried couples riding motorbikes are forbidden, the irony is luxury cars and superbikes are accepted status symbols.

Will PAS and Umno live happily ever after? Or will this union end in disaster?  Will they tire of one another and seek multiple partners? Who will be the first to stray? Polygamy has wrecked many Muslim marriages.

Who is the "husband" in this marriage? If Umno is the breadwinner, will "he" control the purse strings and limit his wife's allowance?

Will PAS assume the role of the demure "wife," and be confined to the house? On outings, will "she" hide beneath her niqab and keep an obligatory three paces behind her husband?

Perhaps the union is like a modern marriage, with the "wife," in this case Umno, assuming the role of breadwinner. For those who are unaware, in some Malay polygamous marriages, the husband's job is to jump from one marital bed to the next, whilst his professional and hard-working wives pay for the upkeep of him and his children.

When Mohamad said Umno and PAS were "married," some people chuckled at the image of the other type of marriage which is not legalised in Malaysia.

Could PAS and Umno have strayed into the highly controversial cultural and religious taboo, which is first-cousin marriages?

In the past, first-cousin marriages were common in the Malay community, but education and medical knowledge have helped to halt the "inbreeding" in Malay families. Children from these marriages will suffer potential risks to their health, and will affect generations in the future.

We all have some abnormal genes, but most of us do not have a defect, because our normal genes overrule the abnormal ones. However, if both the husband and wife carry a recessive gene, their children will have a one-in-four-chance of being born with a defect. First-cousin marriages and the marriage of people within very close-knit communities carry a high chance of children being born with mutations. 

Children from first-cousin marriages may be born with blood diseases like sickle cell anaemia, lung or liver problems, heart or kidney defects, neurological problems, blindness, deafness and brain disorders. Ignorance kills. Parents believe children die because it is an act of God, and not because they have defects.

Extrapolate this genetic damage to PAS/Umno's political marriage.

The children from this union will be nourished on a diet of sugar-coated NEP which does more harm than good, and the Ketuanan Melayu elixir, metaphorical junk food with no nutritional value.

For decades, affirmative action policies have only made the Malays weak.  In 2019, things came to a head when opportunistic Malay leaders legitimised corruption, stealing and lying.

We can avert disaster and prevent damage to future generations, but are the Malays willing to stop the political marriage between Umno and PAS?

First-cousin marriages were a convenient means to keep wealth, jewellery, land, position and property within families.

It is no different with PAS and Umno. Their marriage is about control.

by Mariam Moktar - Mkini