This morning Malaysiakini boldly published Husam ousts Nasharuddin for PAS No 2 though with a qualification that the result was unofficial. Then, Husam had won by a 65-vote majority.
I thought 65 votes was not to be sneered at as that represented slightly more than 6% of the PAS party voters, but Malaysiakini just had to state the PAS deputy presidential race was 'close'. I suspect that since 08 March 2008 the expectation for election wins (whether of intra or inter party contest) requires majority of avalanche-like or tsunamic proportions. Malaysia Boleh ;-)
Alas, when the official result came out, it was a case of Nasharuddin retains PAS No 2 post.
Nasharuddin obtained 480 votes while Husam and Mohd Sabu had 281 and 261 respectively. I have to be cruel and say that Malaysiakini's earlier report of Husam’s victory, unofficial as it might have been labelled, was wild and rather unacceptable, akin to Erdogan-ic wishful thinking.
But did the reporter learn a lesson?
No, because in the second news report which carries the official results, the statement “Nasharuddin's sizable margin of victory of 199 votes over Husam indicated that the conservative ulama faction is still very much dominant in the party” fails to indicate that the total votes for a non-negotiable anti-UMNO stand (as propounded by Husam and supported by Mat Sabu), and thus against Pak Haji Hadi Awang, his running mate Nasharudin and the ulama faction was more than 50%, a total of 542 votes against Nasharudin 480.
Husam and Sabu split their camp’s votes and the story is the usual one, 'first past the post wins', and that’s Nasharudin.
But the Malaysiakini news report has been incorrect in suggesting through its statement 'the conservative ulama faction is still very much dominant in the party' that there hasn’t been a sea change in attitude within PAS vis-à-vis working with non-Muslims and kaffir-like socialist parties like the DAP, when the majority of voters (542 of them) wanted the party to continue support for the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, without flirting with UMNO.
Despite Nasharudin stating bravely that “I still won” with less than 50% of the votes (and he’s right in this respect) I am sure he knows the lie of the new PAS political landscape …
… which has been why, when interviewed by reporters, he was more diplomatic than his bulldozing ethno-centric President and tap danced around, as reported by The Malaysian Insider as follows:
On the unity government proposal, he said that the idea had to be put on hold as the party needs time to explain it to the members. “It is not a one man show party, especially on policy matters, it has to be endorsed by the muktamar,” said Nasharudin.
Elaborating on Hadi’s remark yesterday that he had received the support of Pakatan Rakyat leaders for the unity government idea, Nasharudin said the discussion did not reach policy level. Other Pakatan leaders have denied discussing the subject between them.
The deputy president also promised to work towards strengthening Pakatan but said PAS has never intended to dominate the opposition coalition and said the leadership council is sufficient. “There is no need to appoint one party to lead,” said Nasharudin when asked whether PAS is interested to lead the opposition pact which controls 82 parliament seats and four state governments.
But regardless of whether the Ulama or Erdogan faction has won, let’s not ignore an undeniable truth ….. that both PAS factions continue to pursue their party aspiration, for Malaysia to become an Islamic State with syariah laws with the medieval hudud code of punishments as the law of the country.
We also need to be aware that the party’s president and his ulama henchmen much prefer an ethno-centric pact. Yes, call it ‘unity government’ if you like, which the PAS ulama faction does, and which the PAS president was so enamoured of (such a relationship with UMNO) that he had the shameless gall to suggest DAP and PKR had both agreed to his preference.
Pak Haji Hadi Awang, unlike PAS spiritual leader Pak Haji Nik Aziz, seems more interested in an ethno-centric than an ethic-centric alliance …
... which means UMNO would undoubtedly exploit this chink (f* it, it’s more of a humongous cleft) in the PAS armour.
In a way, I am glad that Husam Musa didn’t win because as I said, the Erdogan-ites have the same ideological aspiration as the ulamas, to bring about an Islamic nation with syariah laws for Malaysia.
While a Husam Musa victory would have given a morale boost to the Pakatan’s aspiration, that in 2013 the pact may assume majority rule, there will be the worrying but now-swept-under-the-carpet issue to deal with, that of PAS wanting to turn Malaysia into an Islamic nation.
How will PKR deal with that is easy to explain, so long as someone gets to be PM! wakakaka!
But how will DAP be able to deal with that?
But at least with the ulama faction in control, WYS-(in PAS)-IWYWG!
Hadi old boy was once the MB for Trengganu , I supposed he missed the day to be a VIP, that is why Hadi and gang are dying to join Amno to form a so called unity gomen.
ReplyDeleteby the way, mahatir has alredi declared malaysia is an islamic state. so has Badawi and Najib.
ReplyDeletebut the last i saw the court judgement, the decision was evidently different and nto what they said.
Kt,
ReplyDeleteThe position you've taken in this post is not surprising; your suspicions of PAS have been well documented, e.g. you criticized the DAP for supporting PAS in the Kuala Terengganu by-election.
The reason I'm not convinced is because I don't see how PAS can further it's agenda even if Pakatan Rakyat were to come in to "total"* power. PR derives it's core power base from the middle-class, which will not go along with the Islamic State agenda.
(*To be honest, I'm not really sure what "total" power is... Federal control? Federal control + 2/3 majority? Plus a handful of state governments? A slim-majority federal government will of course put a halt on all ambitious ideological pursuits.)
On the flipside, at the moment the heartland is (generally) UMNO's base, which PAS does covet, but their failure to capitalize on UMNO's disarray in Perlis and Terengganu leading up to the GE may be an indications of which way the heartland is (was?) leaning. Therefore, the idea of an UMNO-PAS alliance is, IMHO, far more... I don't want to use the word "threatening"... let's just say the Islamic State agenda is best served by an UMNO-PAS alliance.
Therefore, to keep PAS in the PR corner is to keep Islamic State at bay. That's my view. The question, as you put it, is whether PAS desires an ethic-centric programme or an ethNic-centric programme. I think having Nasaruddin in the co-pilots seat makes it easier for that camp to further their programme, regardless of how the delegates voted - reading voter intent is not easy anyway.
Ironically, Nik Aziz may be the only person that actually stands in the way of the Islamic State of Malaysia.
Just like UMNO is about Malay Supremacy, PAS is about Islamic or shall I say Ulama Supremacy. Two sides of the same coin. Now, are the PAS elections results explained in full for those who the results unsettling?
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