Kelantan faces split over palace interference

By David Chew

SINGAPORE (JP): The Islamic-led coalition government of Malaysia's Kelantan state faces an imminent split, as component parties openly accuse each other of bad faith and mismanagement after the controversial issue of palace interference in state politics erupted last month.

The north-eastern state of Kelantan, which has a 95 percent Moslem-majority population, has been ruled by a coalition of the Islamic Party (PAS), the Parti Melayu Semangat 46 and two other less significant parties since 1990. It is the only opposition- controlled state in the 13-state Malaysian Federation.

The other 12 states and the Federal government is controlled by the National Front coalition government dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) which Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad leads.

PAS has 24 representatives against 12 for Semangat, six for UMNO and one for the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and ally of UMNO in the National Front, in the 43-seat Kelantan state assembly. As the senior partner, PAS leads the Kelantan government with Semangat playing a minor, but significant role. The other two parties are not represented.

In the latest development, PAS deputy president Hadi Awang, told Semangat to leave the Kelantan government immediately after Semangat accused PAS of misusing state funds when the Kelantan State Economic Development Corporation dabbled in the share market and lost M$ 14.3 million (US$ 5.72 million). Hadi argued that the losses and mismanagement were caused by Semangat and the Kelantan royalty when they interfered in the administration of the state.

Observers of Malaysian politics contend that PAS blamed Semangat and the palace for condoning what it felt were "unIslamic" practices, among which were the stock market and night entertainment. The least Semangat could do was to maintain the dignity of the coalition and quietly admit these mistakes. But it chose instead to attack PAS for something in which it shared an equal blame.

Semangat president, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, was adamant in replying that his party had a right to remain in the Kelantan coalition government since it too enjoyed wide measures of support from the Kelantan voters. Unless the Mentri Besar, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, decided otherwise and should "choose to throw us out", Semangat would remain in the Kelantan government, Razaleigh, a former finance minister and UMNO stalwart, said.

To all intents and purposes, the PAS and Semangat coalition was "a marriage of convenience" right from the first day it came into power in Kelantan six years ago.

While PAS is a theocratic Islamic party, which advocates an Islamic-state along the lines of Iran, Semangat is a splinter of UMNO, sharing the parent party's view that Malaysia is a secular multi-racial station in which Islamic views predominate.

What brought PAS and Semangat together in 1990 was their common dislike for UMNO. However they disliked UMNO for entirely different reasons. While PAS and UMNO are worlds apart going by the different ideologies they espouse, Semangat's differences with UMNO focused on personalities. Razaleigh tried to topple Mahathir as UMNO president in the party's 1987 election. When he failed, he left the party with his followers to form Semangat whose ideology was similar to UMNO's.

Once the euphoria of PAS and Semangat at the 100 percent defeat of UMNO and National Front in Kelantan in the 1990 Malaysian general election subsided, their differences began to emerge.

PAS still harbors a deep distrust against Semangat which embodies bitterness existing as far back as March 1978, when Razaleigh, then head of Kelantan UMNO, engineered PAS' defeat in "snap" elections called after the UMNO-led Federal Government had lifted a state of emergency in Kelantan and ended PAS' 19-year rule of the state which began in 1959. Although PAS subsequently regained power in 1990 with the help of Semangat, it felt it could never again trust Semangat which it regarded as the Kelantan chapter of UMNO.

Semangat on the other hand, shares UMNO's opposition to PAS' concept of an Islamic state, which, if implemented, condoned "Hudud" or Islamic penal laws calling for the stoning to death of adulterers and amputation of limbs for incorrigible thieves. Practices like these scare away potential investors, foreign and local.

When both PAS and Semangat effected their "marriage of convenience", their ideological differences were downplayed by a common upholding of Islamic principles which were never clearly defined.

Thus when PAS, the senior partner, later implemented "Islamic laws" which not only banned "undesirable Western cultural influences" but also local culture performances such as the Wayang Kulit, Menora, Mak Yong and Dikir Barat on the grounds that they encouraged the sexes to mix and were thus haram (forbidden), Semangat was understandably unhappy. It regarded these as have been part of Kelantanese culture and tradition for generations, a view shared by the Kelantan sultan who is married to the niece of Razaleigh.

Sultan Ismail Petra was angry that the PAS ban on public singing also extended to official functions organized for him. He called on the state government to appoint a panel of religious experts to determine which cultures and traditions were Islamic and which were not.

A demonstration by the youth wing of PAS at an exposition sponsored by the Kelantan Museum Corporation and opened by a Semangat leader with the Sultan's blessings in April, was the last straw.

PAS openly accused the palace of "interference" in state politics, saying that the ruler had also prevailed upon senior civil servants not to implement Islamic laws. PAS leaders told the palace to allow it to rule in peace by respecting the will of the Kelantan people who had voted the party to power not only in 1990, but also last year.

Semangat was quick to criticize PAS' move to amend the Kelantan constitution to clip the powers of the palace, arguing that PAS had reneged on its pledge of loyalty to the palace, first made when the coalition government was formed in 1990.

To the consternation of PAS, Semangat has once again turned to UMNO for a possible reunification of the two parties against the background of the latter's 50th anniversary celebrations, which had "Malay Unity" as a theme. Razaleigh met Mahathir on a number of occasions amid reports that he would once again engineer the downfall of the PAS-led Kelantan government, just like he did in 1978.

Observers reckon that with a combined representation of 19 (Semangat 12, UMNO 6, MCA 1), Semangat would need to induce 6 PAS assemblymen to defect. Should that happen, PAS would be reduced to 18 assemblymen and thus lose its majority.

Sources said if Razaleigh could succeed along such lines and deliver Kelantan to UMNO, which the party by itself regarded as an uphill task, his re-entry into UMNO which he left in 1988, would reflect a personal triumph, and could pose a long-term threat to Anwar Ibrahim's plans to succeed Mahathir as UMNO president and Malaysian prime minister. In line with tradition, the UMNO president has always held the country's highest executive position.

Although Razaleigh has been out of UMNO politics for nearly 10 years, his long association with the party and the fact that he once held a key portfolio as finance minister, still makes him a force to be reckoned with. He has boasted to the Malaysian press that "many key leaders in UMNO were once my boys". They have reportedly kept him informed of developments in the party.

PAS' worst fears of the possibility of Semangat rejoining UMNO and both parties working hand-in-glove to topple it have been confirmed. The Islamic party is fighting back tooth and nail by calling on UMNO to support its move to amend the Kelantan constitution to curb the powers of the palace, something which Semangat said it would oppose.

UMNO had succeeded in amending the Federal and various state constitutions (except in Kelantan) to clip the wings of the Malay rulers and PAS is banking on this to create obstacles for Semangat's return to the UMNO fold. PAS has also warned its potential defectors of the "unforgiving attitude" of the Kalantan voters who are certain to reject them at the next election.

The writer is a free-lance journalist based in Singapore.