Another Hasan Ali?

Earlier this month I posted Apple of discord by a rotten apple, referring to Hasan Ali for char-koay-teow-ing issues among Pakatan partners.

What had chagrined many Pakatan members and supporters had been the (then) Kemo Sabe deliberately stirring up things among Pakatan allies, in what they suspected was an UMNO plot to break up the principal threat to UMNO, with Hasan Ali as its more-than-willing agent provocateur.

I remarked then that unless PAS got rid of the enemy within, there should be exceptions to the ABU policy promoted by Brother Haris Ibrahim, as I considered Hasan Ali (had he remained in PAS, and thus the Pakatan he disliked) a far greater evil than an UMNO candidate.

He was poison.

But thank goodness PAS finally sacked him, much as I understand the party leadership was reluctant to do so because Hasan Ali has strong support from the hard line conservative (ulama) faction, many of whom still preferring the so-called ‘Malay unity’ with UMNO than an alliance with secular parties like DAP.

In that post Kemo Sabe, I mentioned " ... the Weltanschauung or worldview of many (though not all) PAS members is more about Malay interests rather than Islam’s per se, and PAS is a Malay (rather than Islamic) political party. Thus we shouldn't be surprised by people like Dr Hasan Ali."

"Even a certain remarkable Mufti (who cowardly put the blame for his seditious act on a woman when push came to shove) argued that “the Malays are special because they are related to Islam, unlike the Arabs even though Prophet Muhammad was descended among them” and “We must defend our [Malay] race” (rather than Islam). So much for a Mufti!"
You would imagine with Hasan Ali’s expulsion, we needn’t be concerned with question of exceptions to the ABU policy, but alas, life, especially political ones, isn’t meant to be easy.

We now have grave concerns with PAS’ Azizan Abdul Razak, the MB of Kedah, because of his stand on the University and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA), which is completely at odds with Pakatan policy - read Malaysiakini's We will reject you, students warn Kedah MB. where he has infuriated university students because he supported the suspension of 5 students for demonstrations, as the UUCA legislation allows.

Consider the following - Pakatan has promised to repeal the UUCA, PAS is a member of Pakatan, PAS is the principal Pakatan partner in Kedah, but its MB, PAS’ Azizan Abdul Razak supports the usage of the UMNO-legislated UUCA in the suspension of the five Kolej Universiti Insaniah (KUIN) students in his capacity as chairperson of the board of directors of the state-owned KUIN. WTF!

Unfortunately Azizan Abdul Razak has not been the cooperative member of Pakatan since PAS came into power in Kedah in 2008, going on his lonesome ways with his narrow-based conservative attitude which had at times jeopardized the interests of non-Malay Kedahans or that of another Pakatan-ruled State, like proposed logging in the water catchment areas in Kedah, from which Penang depends on its water supply.

While the water issue was a mere drop in the Pakatan scheme of things, his support of the UMNO’s oppressive legislation on university students’ activities, and thus the very freedom of expressions, is diametrically opposed to Pakatan policies. He is just another Hasan Ali!

Given the above, I am not sure about giving unconditional support to ABU, nor should Kedahans.