How ironic it for the deputy president of PAS to be rumored to be seeingthe deputy president of Umno whose late father was instrumental in getting PAS into the BN stable in the early 70s.
Once bitten, twice shy. PAS leaders should be wary of having a close political cooperation with Umno in the name of ‘Malay unity’. The last time PAS joined Umno under the BN banner was in 1973. It was a short marriage as in the 1978 polls, the party was badly mauled and even lost their Malay heartland state of Kelantan to Umno. Only after a hiatus of 14 years did the party manage to wrest back Kelantan in the 1990 polls.
Umno - which lost sizable Malay support in the last polls - is in a desperate move to restore its former glory. Desperate times beget desperate measures. There are some Malays who think that the community has lost their political patronage with their political rivals Pakatan Rakyat making a surprise stunning victory in the last polls.
Although the progress of those states control by the ‘opposition’ has been slow, at least their 100 days in office show that political parties with different ideologies can still work together for the common people’s interests rather than as in the past.
It is an open secret that Umno leaders in Selangor and Perak have tried to entice PAS state assembly persons to join forces with them to take over the state governments. Thank god , PAS is wary of these Umno offers and have stuck to their original partners in Pakatan Rakyat.
So far so good and a forgiving public can forgive the five states controlled by the ‘opposition’ for minor blunders here and there as they are still new in government.
Umno is at it weakest right now and the internal fighting among it leaders has caused other the component parties in BN to take an independent stand to fight for their political survivals. MCA, Gerakan and even MIC leaders have blamed Umno for their party’s poor showing in the last polls and even their grassroots supporters have asked their leaders to be more vocal in fighting for their communities’ rights and not be subservient to Umno.
The last straw must have been a tiny component party in BN , Sapp asking the premier to make way for others and it now wants to move a motion of no-confidence in parliament. Such audacity by the Sapp part would not have taken place if BN had won big in the last polls.
PAS should stick with their Islamic principles as a majority of the Malays who are educated and God-fearing would rather stick with a party that champions Islamic principles rather than Umno who are tainted with corrupt practice and abuse of power. PAS support among the Malay community is growing but they still need the support of other races in order to do well in the next polls. After winning two states, PAS is poised to win other Malays heartland states such as Terangganu and Perlis.
And if they do well in parliament come the next general elections, their leaders can call the shots on who can become the premier in this country.
PAS and DAP are like chalk and cheese in our local political scene with their different ideologies. But PKR under Anwar Ibrahim had managed to glue these two different ‘twain’ partners under the opposition front and so far, they have survived the onslaught by BN parties to dislodge them from their seats of power.
Common universal values like fighting for justice for the common people, respect of the law, abhorrence of corrupt practice, good corporate governance and transparency will win the people’s support in the next polls.
Hopefully, Nasharuddin’s denial of meeting with Najib under the guise of Malay unity is just but a rumour. PAS should not fall into the trap like before. As the Malay saying goes ‘jangan pisang berbuah dua kali’.
The last time, nearly three decade ago, PAS was stabbed in the back by Umno and history will repeat itself if PAS gets closer to their erstwhile rival for Malay support.
It is better for PAS to stick with their present partners who started on a slate clean. After all, it is better to work with the devil you know rather than an angel which you will never meet. Right?
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