Non-Muslim support a high-wire act for PAS
While PAS' diligent wooing of non-Muslim support for the last few years have benefited it and made the party more palatable outside of its normal support base, the move has sparked fears amongst party members that the Islamic party will lose its backbone of traditional Malay support.
While PAS' diligent wooing of non-Muslim support for the last few years have benefited it and made the party more palatable outside of its normal support base, the move has sparked fears amongst party members that the Islamic party will lose its backbone of traditional Malay support.
The fear is a legitimate one as the Islamic party's core support have always originated from the usually conservative Malay grassroots who are quite vulnerable and open to manipulation and influence by Umno.
Nothing made this more clear than in the last several by-elections which saw both PAS and its Pakatan Rakyat allies losing the support of the Malays to the heavy-hitting Umno, who not only made used of its incumbency to use development as bait, but also made use of friendly NGOs to portray the opposition and PAS in particular as going against or insensitive to Malay interests.
In a press conference earlier today, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang (centre) tried to downplay those fears and also smoothen any ruffled feathers by justifying the newly-formed 20,000-strong supporters wing made up of non-Muslims and the party's decision to allow non-Muslims to run in elections under its banner.
However, his efforts proved futile as delegates who debated the motion of thanks for the president's policy speech continued to bring the matter up at the Islamic party's 56th muktamar at the Islamic Tarbiyah Centre in Pengkalang Chepa, Kelantan.
Polygamous marriage
Using the analogy of a polygamous marriage, Kelantan PAS delegate Mohamad Amar Nik Abdullah. who took the floor in support of the president's policy speech, said that like a man who just married a new wife, he must not forget to look after his first wife.
"We must not hurt the feelings of our original supporters who have supported us since the beginning," he added.
But not all delegates took the matter as a problem. A delegate from Perak, Khalil Idham Lim, saw it as a challenge for PAS to work harder to maintain its momentum.
He said that the Islamic party's Ulama wing can play a crucial role in winning over the votes of the Malays. This, he explained, is because the Ulama wing is uniquely suited to the task at hand with their expertise in Islamic tenets.
"If they can expose the sins of Umno to the Malay Muslims, then this will help win back their votes," he said.
Idham told the 2,000 or so delegates and observers who are in attendance that the Malays will surely feel disgusted and guilty for supporting Umno if they are shown not only the ample evidence of Umno's corruption but also clear proscriptions against the Malay party's actions in Islamic teachings.
Attracting Umno members
He further contends that if non-Muslims are coming over to join PAS in droves, then it should not be impossible for the Islamic party to seek to win back the Malay Muslims who have lost their way to Umno.
Whatever the case, the issue will probably continue to be picked upon by delegates and the party leadership will have to answer them on the last day of the muktamar.
A solution by the party leadership is crucial not only to address these fears but more importantly to help clarify and chart the future of PAS since this muktamar is probably the last assembly before the next general election.
As PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali (right) puts it, the general election must be close by, because it can only be this year, 2011 or 2012.
"It cannot be 2013, because the BN is scared of the number 13," he quipped.
