PAS rethinking its image to seek non-Muslims' support

PAS rethinking its image to seek non-Muslims' support

By Joceline Tan

KUALA LUMPUR: The recent annual congress of Malaysia's biggest opposition party, Parti Islam SeMalaysia, or PAS, was worthy of a political party waiting to form the next government of Malaysia.

There are a number of reasons for saying this.

First, the media -- local and foreign -- turned up in full force and gave it the sort of attention that only political parties of serious intent deserve.

Next was the impressive number of diplomatic representatives, many of whom think they can smell the scent of change.

Then, party president Datuk Fadzil Noor made no bones about the party's political aims in an extremely well-thought-out speech entitled, Confronting challenges, forging victory.

And, finally, the delegates at the meeting signaled that they were prepared to accommodate the changes necessary to propel the party towards the grand prize -- the seat of government.

A primary part of these changes is finding acceptance among non-Muslims. The latter make up 35 percent of the population and their vote has become pivotal, given the political schism among Malays over the sacking of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

It was PAS' second annual meeting since Malaysia's national polls two years ago, which saw the party win control of yet another state and triple its number of seats in Parliament.

The party faithful do not like the term but PAS is reinventing itself. It is trying hard to moderate its former hard-line image.

Party leaders have eschewed the jubah (the long gown favored by Muslim clerics) for Malay dress.

They are learning to speak the language of justice, democracy and human rights, and are trying to find a role for women members in what has hitherto been a male-dominated party hierarchy.

The overtures are aimed primarily at the Chinese whom they hope will help them over the threshold in states that are outside the Malay heartland.

But an image change and politically-correct conversation may be insufficient to win over the mainstay of Chinese society.

PAS has yet to assure non-Muslims satisfactorily over their ultimate objective of establishing an Islamic state.

They have stopped talking about it, yes, but that should not lull Malaysians into believing that their Islamic state agenda is no longer a priority.

There is no shift in policy, merely a shift in approach.

For many Chinese, there are still too many unanswered questions about the Islamic state to make them feel comfortable with the political Islam of PAS.

For instance, what are the rights of non-Muslims in an Islamic state? Can non-Muslims form part of the government? Will women stay at home in an Islamic state? Will the ulama, as the clergy are known, wield as much power as they do now in PAS?

Will state decisions be attributed to divine reasoning rather than based on logic and rationale?

PAS' main hurdle in this issue is that there is no viable example of an Islamic state. Medina, the first and only Islamic city, is too remote an example for non-Muslims to relate to while Islamic governments such as those in Iran, Pakistan, Sudan and Bangladesh do not elicit confidence among non-Muslims.

Some Chinese liken PAS to a company trying to market something that is still very much in the air. They say there is nothing wrong with selling an idea; their main reservation is that those doing the selling are politicians.

Another concern among non-Muslims is PAS' stand on apostasy, the act of abandoning one's religion.

About a year ago, Abdul Hadi Awang, the charismatic deputy president of PAS, tried to table a Bill in Parliament making apostasy punishable by death.

His action shocked Muslims and non-Muslims alike and drew protests from even his own opposition coalition partners.

Moreover, this came shortly after a rather sensational incident involving a Muslim girl who had renounced her faith to marry a Christian boy.

Many non-Muslims were repelled by the way the police and religious department cooperated to track down the couple.

The incident exacerbated non-Muslim unease about political Islam. It also triggered several closed-door seminars among groups worried about how an apostasy law would affect, in particular, Muslim converts wishing to leave the religion.

Another aspect of PAS which bothers the Chinese is its holier- than-thou attitude on matters such as drinking, attire, interaction between men and women, and gambling.

They see it as a preamble to more drastic do's and don'ts when the ulama assume political power.

Then there is PAS' rather medieval position on women's role in society. It becomes even more worrying when those views are endorsed by Muslim women themselves.

The PAS attitude towards women will remain its Achilles' heel for sometime to come.

For instance, journalists who covered the PAS annual meeting were taken aback when Madam Fatimah Ibrahim, the newly-elected head of the women's wing, calmly announced that the women in the party would not ask for posts because "it is not our right to ask".

Her view of women was equally conservative: Women were, first and foremost, mothers then wives and, finally, members of society.

Most of the journalists, men as well as women, walked away from the press conference, shaking their heads.

In that sense, PAS' ability to attract a segment of non- Muslims and other groups over to its side in the past couple of years has been due less to its own attributes than to the ruling party's inability and reluctance to accommodate changing attitudes and views.

But those drawn to the reinvented PAS tend to overlook the fact that the party is still very much controlled by the ulama. For instance, among selected PAS circles, Harun Taib, the head of its ulama wing, is considered the most powerful figure in the party.

The stern-faced and aloof cleric runs an orthodox religious school in Terengganu, in a village called Kubang Lembek and which party people refer to as "Kay-El" (their version of KL).

Harun is said to be less than pleased about the changes the party is going through.

He is uncomfortable with the recent influx of professionals and former UMNO supporters who he fears do not understand the PAS culture and its struggle for an Islamic state.

Party figures such as Harun call the shots and those who are looking to the Islamic party for political solutions should keep that in mind.

-- The Straits Times/Asia News Network