The purged Islamist party under the leadership of Hadi Awang is holding its muktamar and party elections.
The PAS Youth assembly on day one has not shied away from displaying its wild ambitions, wanting to paint the whole country green!
Outgoing chairman Nik Abduh Nik Aziz vowed that PAS would capture five states in the coming general elections, and once the RUU355 amendment bill is passed, the party is prepared to amend the syariah laws in the five states it has in mind: Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang and Selangor, “to show the beauty of Islam yet to be seen in Malaysia”, in his own words.
Lest we forget, the party once said it wanted to implement hudud in both Kelantan and Terengganu.
And Nik Abduh also said his party would win 40 parliamentary seats.
If what he said becomes reality, PAS will take the reins of half the states on Peninsular Malaysia, posing a tremendous threat to Umno which will surrender a big chunk of its local administrations, retreating to a handful of minor states.
Meanwhile, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man proclaimed his party’s decision to revert to Islamic fundamentalism and that its struggle hereafter would be an extension of its ongoing religious fight. He added that PAS would take cue from the models of other Islamic regimes worldwide.
I have reservations about PAS capturing five states and 40 parliamentary seats. This lofty goal aside, I am actually more concerned about the party substantiating its future roadmap through this muktamar.
A seasoned reporter should be able to tell that this muktamar has been unusually stern and homogeneous, lacking in dissident voices and moderate discourses.
The party leadership evolving around Hadi Awang has affirmed the puristic religious approach the party is going to adopt, from administrative philosophies right down to religious policies and laws.
It will embrace Islamization in a way much more comprehensive and thorough than Islamist parties in many Muslim-predominant states like Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia.
PAS’ roadmap is a striking misfit in Malaysia, given the degree of secularization, modernization and internationalization of this country, which will invariably be in peril under the party.
The existing lifestyles of many Malaysians will be completely flip-flopped and all that we have achieved this far will be invalidated.
PAS is planning to take us down the road of total Islamization without taking into account the country’s diversity and secular traditions, nor the fact that this country has been put together by people of different religious and ethnic origins.
Monoreligionism will not fit into Malaysia’s unique characteristics. It will only spawn conflicts after conflicts.
There will be no turning back for Malaysia if we allow this country to be painted green by PAS’ puristic monoreligionism.
– Mysinchew
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