Malaysian general elections shaping up<\/p>\n
Lawrence Bartlett, Agence-France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Malaysia's first elections in 22 years without Prime Minister
\nMahathir Mohamad's dominating presence are shaping up as a fight
\nfor the soul of the Muslim majority, a congress of the hardline
\nIslamic Party (PAS) showed at the weekend.<\/p>\n
The challenge to Malaysia's moderate policies comes at a time
\nwhen Mahathir himself has warned of the growing popularity of
\nIslamic parties around the world in the face of the West's war on
\nterrorism, which is often perceived as a war on Islam.<\/p>\n
Declaring a belief that PAS can wrest power from Mahathir's
\nUnited Malays National Organization (UMNO) in elections due
\nwithin a year, the party congress emphasized its dream of turning
\nMalaysia into an Islamic state complete with punishments such as
\namputation and stoning to death.<\/p>\n
The reason for PAS's existence is \"to establish Islam in its
\nentirety,\" party president and fiery cleric Abdul Hadi Awang told
\nthe annual gathering.<\/p>\n
\"It is now our turn to govern. Be prepared to embrace the
\ncoming victory.\"<\/p>\n
At the same time as holding themselves out to be true
\nIslamists in contrast to UMNO, analysts say, PAS is trying to
\npresent a more moderate face to the 40 percent of Malaysian
\nvoters who are not Muslims.<\/p>\n
\"PAS has been making strenuous efforts to engage with the non-
\nbelievers and allay their fears about an Islamic state,\" the New
\nStraits Times wrote in an editorial on Sunday.<\/p>\n
But, it added: \"Make no mistake, PAS is situated within the
\nIslamist movements in which the Taliban, Wahhabis and al-Qaeda
\nlie at one extreme ...\", going on to describe PAS as \"disguised
\nextremists\".<\/p>\n
Observers said there appeared to be a swing in PAS's new
\nleadership lineup taking shape at the congress, with more
\nmoderate professionals winning key roles in the women's and youth
\nwings compared to hardliners.<\/p>\n
But the party's highest decision-making body, the Syura Ulama
\nCouncil, is still headed by PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik
\nMat, an unrelenting conservative who recently warned that women
\nwearing lipstick invited rape.<\/p>\n
\"There may be more professionals in the PAS leadership but
\nthey hold little clout because the Syura Ulama Council is the one
\ncalling the shots,\" a Kuala Lumpur-based diplomat said.<\/p>\n
Despite fears among non-Muslims of Islamic militancy after the
\nSept. 11 attacks on the United States, he said PAS held firmly to
\nits Islamic state goal because \"they believe it is their destiny
\nto win ultimately\" after gaining in 1999 polls.<\/p>\n
PAS captured a second state and tripled its parliamentary
\nseats in the last election in 1999, benefiting from the 1998
\nsacking and arrest of Mahathir's popular ex-deputy Anwar Ibrahim
\nwhich divided ethnic Muslims who makeup some 60 percent of
\nMalaysia's 23 million people.<\/p>\n
PAS and UMNO each has some 35 percent hardcore supporters
\namong Malays, the diplomat estimated.<\/p>\n
\"Around 30 percent are fence sitters who are being wooed by
\nboth parties. The conventional view is that many Malays may have
\nreturned to UMNO but it is hard to say.\"<\/p>\n
A crucial element in the next election, which must be held by
\nthe end of 2004 but is expected much earlier, is that UMNO will
\nbe led by a new and untested leader, current deputy Prime
\nMinister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who takes over when Mahathir
\nretires next month.<\/p>\n
He is an Islamic scholar and brings his religious credentials
\nto bear in picking up the anti-extremist cudgels wielded for so
\nlong by Mahathir.<\/p>\n
\"We must battle PAS in the schools, in the streets,
\neverywhere,\" Abdullah told Singapore's Sunday Times earlier this
\nyear.<\/p>\n
\"PAS's narrow interpretation of the Islamic faith is a
\nchallenge to the racial harmony in multi-ethnic Malaysia and the
\nfight against the party was a \"battle for the hearts and minds of
\nthe Malays,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mahathir's UMNO has ruled since independence in 1957 through
\nan alliance with Chinese and Indian parties, and observers say
\nthat even if PAS wins the battle for the Muslim soul, it is
\nunlikely to gain enough support among these minorities to achieve
\nits aim of taking power.<\/p>",
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