Islamic-state dream haunts alliance

Islamic-state dream haunts alliance

By P. Ramasamy

KUALA LUMPUR: The notion of the Islamic state as articulated by Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) might have endeared the party to Malays in general, but it poses a serious threat to the survival of the opposition front, Barisan Alternatif.

Soon, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) will have to decide whether it wants to stick with the opposition alliance. Apparently, the DAP leadership has come under serious pressure from its rank and file to review its ties with PAS.

The latter's insistence on its Islamic-state political formula has infuriated the DAP and, to a large extent, the non-Muslim community in the country.

While the DAP would like to stick with the opposition front for the 2004 general election, things are not looking good.

The DAP wants the opposition front to concentrate on the weaknesses of the ruling coalition and to expose its misdeeds and shortcomings but the relationship between the Barisan Alternatif partners is not getting any better.

Parties such as Parti Keadilan and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) have generally abstained from wading into the Islamic-state controversy, preferring to stick to the common manifesto that was hatched before the last general election in 1999.

This manifesto, among other things, spelt out the broad areas in which the parties could cooperate in undermining the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition.

The reluctance of Keadilan and PRM to take a firm stand on the Islamic-state issue is of great annoyance to the DAP.

Both parties, being Malay-based, fear that coming clean on the matter may affect their electoral performance.

While both parties have called the DAP and PAS to close ranks to deal effectively with the BN, they have not helped to heal the present rift between the DAP and PAS.

So, the DAP and PAS look like they are headed for a clash over the imposition of an Islamic state in Malaysia.

The DAP has repeated many times that it will not tolerate such a state as the country is multi-ethnic and multi-religious.

It is not that PAS has a monolithic conception of the Islamic state in Malaysia. There are some people in PAS who think that the issue has been blown out of proportion and genuinely fear that it may break up the coalition.

But the insistence on the part of others in the party, especially the Muslim ideologues, makes it difficult for it to wriggle out of the issue.

PAS has tried to convince non-Muslim communities in the country that an Islamic administration might not be that bad.

By revealing some aspects of its relationship with non-Muslims in Kelantan and Terengganu, the party has sought to project an image that it is fair to non-Muslims.

But there are others within the opposition who point out that the party's so-called special relationship with non-Muslims in these two states is a mere public-relations exercise.

As long as federal power is not in the hands of PAS, there is no way that it can implement the Islamic-state plan in Malaysia.

Even if the opposition front wins the next parliamentary election, PAS will not be able to bring about an Islamic state without alienating non-Muslim supporters.

Of course, this support is predicated on the premise that parties such as the DAP still have a strong relationship with PAS.

But unless it dilutes or drops its demand for an Islamic state, it is likely that the opposition coalition is in for big trouble.

The writer is a professor of political science at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

The Straits Times / Asia News Network