Panellists at a forum last night discussing the outcome of PAS’ latest muktamar disagreed over whether or not PAS leaders ousted in the party election should form a new party.

One of the panellists, Maszlee Malik, argued that the group, labelled as the party’s progressives, should exit and go on their own.

Maszlee said the PAS elections have turned into a zero-sum game, where candidates merely tried to portray themselves as being more religious than the other side, and there was a little hope for them to make inroads from within the party.

“It is not a clean contest. In Umno’s elections it is easy: whoever gives the best door gifts to the division leaders wins,” Maszlee ( photo ) said.

“But in PAS, the issue is whether you are more Islamic or less Islamic.

“That’s why they (the progressives) lost so badly. Even if they can make a comeback, they would have to come wearing robes covering their knees and elbows,” the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa lecturer told the forum in Kuala Lumpur.

PAS ‘defective’ product

Held at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH), it was attended by some 100 people, besides those listening to a live broadcast of the event by Radio Bangsar Utama.

Maszlee said PAS progressive MPs and assemblypersons should remain in their seats and fulfil their responsibilities as officials elected under the PAS ticket.

“They need to prove that they can still perform, although their party does not accept them.

“When the 14th general election looms, if they truly have value, they don’t need to find a new party. PKR and DAP will seek them out,” he said.

Another panellist, social activist Hishamuddin Rais, compared PAS to a product that is defective and ‘not as advertised’, and so there needs to be a new party.

Hishamuddin said it does not matter if PAS progressives remain in the party or not, but argued that a new party is needed to continue the discourse of Islamic democrats and rally the people against Umno

Meanwhile, political observer Lim Hong Siang said PAS progressives should join PKR and DAP instead of forming a new party, citing difficulties in doing so.

Setting up a new party, Lim said, would require vast financial resources, while Malaysia’s first-past-the-post electoral system worked against small political parties.

He said although the move would pose dilemmas, such as who should make way for the PAS progressives to contest, PKR and DAP should give recognition for the talents within their ranks.

‘Stay and try again’

Yet another panellist, former Malaysiakini chief editor Fathi Aris Omar, said the defeated PAS members should just stay put and try again in the next PAS election, even if this would be a difficult task.

Fathi ( photo ) said these PAS leaders have lost an intellectual war in the party, and would face the same problems again in general elections even if they formed a new party.

“The form of the coalition now, with PKR and DAP on board, is practical for PAS to further its agenda.

“The issue is that PAS gets accused of being a lackey (barua) to DAP or (PKR de facto leader) Anwar Ibrahim,” he said.

Fathi pointed out that historically, PAS has always played supporting roles with other parties whenever it had made electoral inroads, whether it was when the party was a part of BN, in Barisan Alternatif, or with Pakatan Rakyat.

However, when PAS tried to dictate the terms of the partnership and push its hudud agenda, the alliance began to collapse.

At the PAS muktamar last week, PAS conservatives made a clean sweep of the party’s leadership positions.

This has prompted calls to for a PAS splinter party to be formed, an option at least one group, Pertubuhan Ummah Sejahtera Malaysia (PasMa) is considering.

PasMa will be deciding on this matter at a meeting tomorrow.