PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali today conceded that Umno and DAP are right about their criticisms of PAS and the dwindling support for the Barisan Alternatif opposition front.

Compared with the situation before the 1999 general elections, support for the Barisan Alternatif has deteriorated, even among the Malay Malaysians, he wrote in an article distributed on the partys e-forum.

Syed Husin recognised the basis of DAPs criticism of PAS, due to the latters insistence on the Islamic state set-up even though basically in conflict with BAs common manifesto.

He said PAS at times does issue careless statements which are directed solely to Muslims even though its leaders realise that with the current scenario, it is unrealistic to make the issue the partys main agenda.

Syed Husin said DAP and PAS appear to be trying to defend and widen their traditional support bases comprising Chinese Malaysians and Malay Malaysians respectively.

Basically, this can benefit the two parties but it will not help enhance the perception towards the opposition as a whole, he said, naming negative perception as one of the causes for BAs weakening support.

This Islamic state conflict makes DAP look bad in the eyes of Malay Malaysians while PAS looks bad in the eyes of others. It also contributes to the peoples negative perception of PAS, he added.

Power of perception

Syed Husin said the differences between the two parties must be resolved through discussions and not through the media as in politics perception is very important.

He said how a leader or party is perceived can be established in two ways: by their own practices or through the projection of others.

He said it is through the second instance that public perception of a leader or party can be manipulated by their rivals.

A group can destroy anothers image by negative propaganda and by eroding their credibility among the people, he said.

Syed Husin said the media was a very strong propaganda tool and those who control such tools could create the kind of perception they wanted to project of others.

With almost full control of the media, BN has been able to build their image and at the same time create a negative perception towards BA, he said.

They are targetting PAS at the moment as PAS captured two states in the last general elections and this has become Umnos biggest challenge, he added.

Syed Husin said the BN believes that if it could weaken the support of the people for PAS, BA would become less influential.

He said events beginning from last year, such as the Sept 11 attacks followed by the war against terrorism, the arrests of reformasi activists and so-called militant group members under the Internal Security Act, have given BN the chance to paint a frightening picture of PAS.