Ramasamy: Govt needs different strategy to tackle PAS' growth

 

The government needs to come up with a different cultural strategy to challenge PAS’ divisive religious approach, said Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy.

“The new government has set up one or two departments to counter the Islamic challenge levelled by PAS and the opposition in general.

“Unfortunately, these departments are merely engaging in the political propaganda of propping up the government rather than thinking out of the box to develop and sustain a cultural strategy to take on the opposition,” he said in a statement today.

Ramasamy said with a mix of right thinking and strategy, Malay political support can be shifted away from PAS, especially in the Malay heartland.

PAS has built on its strength in Kelantan and Terengganu and expanded its power base to include Kedah and Perlis in recent years. It has the most MPs in the Dewan Rakyat and dominates the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.

“PAS does not have 100 percent support in the Malay heartland, support is still there for Umno, PKR, and Amanah.

“However, such support is not as strong as for PAS, which has over the years captured the religious imagination of the majority of the Malays,” Ramasamy said.

He ventured that religious or Islamic challenges might not be the right way as it is difficult to outdo the party in religious terms and the more religion is used to challenge PAS, the more radical might be the outcome.

“In other words, it is difficult to defeat PAS on the same plane, a counter-hegemonic strategy is needed.

“Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci wrote in the 1930s that defeating capitalism by focussing on class contradictions and class struggles is not sufficient.

“Alternatively, there must be a focus on the cultural dimension with the aim to defeat the reigning ideas,” said Ramasamy.

He said Gramsci’s theory of hegemony is interesting in that it calls for alternative thinking on the ways and means to defeat capitalism.

Defeating ideologies

In short, the defeat of capitalism must precede from the cultural angle by demolishing the ideas, thinking, and ideologies that serve as glue to the capitalist system.

“In Malaysia, it is not even about the relevance or irrelevance of class struggle, but more about defeating ideologies that stand in the way of national unity and interracial harmony.

“In this regard, the divisive religious approach of PAS is an anathema to national harmony and national unity,” he said.

It should be noted that PAS has maintained its political momentum despite the fact that the states it administers are among the poorest performing economically.

Ramasamy said the pouring of investments in the Malay heartland to uplift the socio-economic status of poor Malays must be considered.

“This is important as poverty is one of the many reasons why Malays support PAS,” he added. - Mkini