Another Lesson in PAS History: The Malaysian Public Doesnt Like Extremists
By Farish A. Noor ~ June 9th, 2009. Filed under: TOM_Main.
The repercussions of the somewhat clumsy attempt by some sections of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS to call for the investigation, and possibly banning, of the Muslim women’s rights group Sisters in Islam are still being felt today. Many questions have arisen in the wake of the proposal that was passed without debate at the recent General Assembly of PAS: How and why was the proposal passed as one of the ‘non-debated proposals’ in the first place? Why was it not vetted properly and why was it tabled at all? What does this say about the internal cohesion of PAS and its internal discipline? Does this proposal reflect just a faction of opinion among PAS members, or is it actually representative of the party as a whole? And what does this mean with regards to PAS’s avowed claims to be a modern party that supports the democratisation process and dialogue with others?
It is hard, to say the least, to believe that a party can be supportive of democracy if it starts by calling for the banning of NGOs even before it comes to power…
For now however we are left to watch the internal and external drama of PAS unfold as the party seeks to re-consolidate itself after what was clearly a hectic assembly for all. The lingering question of where PAS really stands, and where it goes from here though will have to be addressed sooner than later.
To help answer this question, we would like to propose a quick re-visit to the history of PAS from the 1980s to the present to illustrate a simple yet important point: Namely, that the Malaysian public has never had much appetite for violent, extreme and exclusive political discourse and behaviour, be it from PAS or UMNO.
In the 1980s, some of us will remember that PAS was heavily engaged in a fiery war of words with its nemesis UMNO. The leaders of PAS then – notably Yusof Rawa, Hadi Awang and Mat Sabu – were at the forefront of attacking and condemning the leaders of UMNO – notably (now Tun) Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim. It was during this period that UMNO and PAS both jointly raised the political temperature in the country, leading to the controversial kafir-mengafir episode where both sides were accusing the other side of being hypocrites (munafik) , secular and un-Islamic. This culminated in a number of bitter incidents such as the killing of Ustaz Ibrahim ‘Libya’ Mahmood at the village of Memali in 1985 and the controversy around the book ‘Hadis’ by Kassim Ahmad some years later.
PAS had then gone onto overdrive with its fiery polemics against UMNO, and the infamous proclamation of Hadi Awang that accused PAS’s opponents of being the enemies of Islam had done wonders to transform the image of PAS into that of a violent and extremist party. At the elections of 1986, the result of this overheated rhetoric were obvious: PAS’s share of the vote dropped to 15.3 per cent and Parliamentary seats to 0.6 per cent, winning only one seat.
Then, as now, PAS was trying to court the support of the non-Muslims in Malaysia through the Chinese Consultative Councils (CCCs) of PAS, but to no avail. The Malaysian public demonstrated that they were not able and willing to tolerate the violent oppositional dialectics of UMNO and PAS, but were more worried about PAS’s language of jihad and kafirs.
Fast-forward to 2002 and we see a similar scenario in the off-ing. In the wake of PAS’s victory at the elections of 1999, an over-confident PAS took it upon itself to once again play the role of the ‘defenders of Islam’. In 2002 Muslim writers, academics and NGOs (including Sisters in Islam) were once again attacked and accused of all manner of things. In the same year, PAS declared its support for the Taliban in the most blatant manner when PAS members demonstrated in front of the US embassy with posters and banners that read “Taliban are our brothers”.
The rest of the Malaysian electorate, however, was not inclined to think of the Taliban as their brothers, and once again PAS was badly damaged at the elections of 2004…
These incidents demonstrate a simple fact: That the Malaysian public may vote for PAS as a reaction against UMNO, but this does not mean that the vote is a vote in support of an Islamic state, liberal-bashing or Taliban-supporting. Consistently the Malaysian public has shown that whenever PAS (or UMNO) resorts to extreme communitarian politics and discourse, its votes will swing in the other direction.
PAS, like all political parties, has to learn the simple lesson of representative politics, and realise that the vote given to PAS in 2008 was given by the Malaysian public to the Pakatan Rakyat and what the Pakatan stands for; which is a new, freer, more democratic and plural Malaysia where diversity is respected and enhanced. The call for the investigation and possible banning of a Muslim women’s NGO like SIS on the spurious basis that it is ‘un-Islamic’ beggars belief, and makes a mockery of the Pakatan’s efforts thus far. But the ones who have the most to lose are the members of PAS themselves, who should always study their own history to learn from the past in order not to repeat the same mistakes in the future.
PAS has indeed come a long way, and no doubt will remain on the scene for a long time to come. We hope and pray that as it develops and evolves, PAS will evolve in tandem with the new spirit of the new Malaysia that we are trying to build, and not against it. Having learned from its history, PAS should not condemn itself to becoming a historical relic instead.
June 10th, 2009 at 01:49
Dear Farish,
While Malaysians may have selective amnesia when it comes to politics (don’t mention May 13th), PAS has time and again demontrated its inability to engage Malaysians, muslims or not, beyond their version of Islam.
The recent call to ban SIS is only the latest in the long series of ‘banning’ - from Rihanna and Avril Lavigne to mixed queueing at supermarket check-outs. Their stance on serban-to-school boys a few years back shows that they are willing to play Article 11 to their own ends, at the same time silent when Islam is used to severe child-parent ties.
It is not whether PAS decided to be travellers with PKR or DAP, it is PAS as it is in the here and now - divisive in multi-culti Malaysia and anachronistic to the aspirations of the majority. They have not changed.
“We hope and pray ….PAS will evolve in tandem with the new spirit of the new Malaysia…”
Yes, until they get elected they will dance to the tune of a small number of new Malaysians - those with short memory or those with very long spoons.
June 10th, 2009 at 05:18
time to apply pressure to BN and Umno.LKY is in malaysia this week to spport najib.let us reject tolitarian rule imposed on us since 1957.the british’s gordon brown is falling so will najib the serpent as god is willing.
June 10th, 2009 at 07:28
i for one will not vote pas again in the next ge,boycot the ge.my family vots of 4,goes to pas in te last ge,trusting pkr and not pas like hadi and nas.they said bn played them out,but now we feel pas played us out bigger.they r big headed now thinking they r a national party now,don’t needs the non muslims votes now and now big enough to negotiate with umno and form a unity govnt.they r heading for self destruction.if i were YB Nizar,i will leave pas and join DAP or pakatan.less headed.
June 10th, 2009 at 08:30
Looks like PAS forgets easily. After 1999 it also came out with its aspirations of turning Malaysia into an Islamic State with its Islaci State document launced with a lot of fanfare. What they completely overlooked there was that they were promising to deceiving the voters into giving them the power to basically turn over the country to the whims and fancies of their elusive and unelected council of Ulamas. But then again as I have often said, these are just their aspirations which is as good as my own aspiration to climb up Mt Everest!!
I think before the rest of us completely reject any funny ideas that PAS may have, we can show it to them how we can and will punish them. We can do it at the coming by-election in Manek Urai. If they were to select a candidate from the Ulamak group, just don’t bother supporting them. If the candidate is from the liberal group, we give him maximum support.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:14
I would say PAS is “tamak” and the success in GE12 has gone to their head. They are still in the “honeymoon” stage dreaming that the Chinese votes are given to them becuz they are PAS.
I want PAS to know that the Chinese votes including my family’s votes were not for PAS but for any party other than BN and its also to PR. We shall teach them a lesson when the next round GE comes and I can foresee that many PAS seats will fall especially those with sizable Chinese voters.
Instead of working towards a PAS for all…now they are again going back to being the Extremist they have always being espcially in the eyes of Chinese voters. We have given them a chance but they took it for granted. Sorry “Taliban Brothers” our votes will never be for you again…ever….unless you repent and start to work again for all and Hadi should come out and apologise to all voters who had voited for PAS instead of their usual choice i.e. BN. Guess BN is still the tolerable choice after all…..sighhhhhh…
June 10th, 2009 at 10:16
Even if the proposal was not debated… One still needs 51% of the delegates to pass the motion… which basically means, more than half of the delegates in the hall agreed on the motion…
One would wonder why the proposal comes from a moderate leader Khalid Samad’s division…
June 10th, 2009 at 10:33
PAS was given reduced majority in 2004 for planning to introduce true Islamic state in a country with 60% Muslim population currently running on British common law, despite the British population is either too small or very insignificant. At the end of the day, they silently clapped their hands when the community that rejected them became victim of the ever increasing crime rate.
Oh yes, let’s not forget when it is extremism when PAS wants to set dress code in Kelantan. It took a hyperlink to BBC News of a news article about China and suddenly a community group learned to cover their thigh.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:35
The Opposition parties took one step forward after the 12th GE and now are taking 3 steps back. Why is it PAS is still fighting on the religious grounds when in fact be fighting for a better MAlaysia? Even PKR & DAP has been dissapointing. As time goes by, i actually wonder if the oppositions have any caliber to represent the people against the BN goons!
June 10th, 2009 at 12:33
PAS should be moderate and not extremist if you want to win this coming election.Don’t be a fool and show off.
June 10th, 2009 at 13:28
I am extremely disappointed with PAS after its latest general meeting. When it is beginning to win the heart and confidence of the non-Muslims, this meeting has destroyed the trust if not all that we have placed in the party. Calling for the banning of SIS is shocking for many of us. I personally feel that SIS has been doing a good job, voicing out injustices and inequality for both Muslims and non-Muslims. PAS should have the courage to take on SIS in open forums and not blatantly wanting the organisation to be banned. Perhaps this is one way Hadi wants to weaken his own party to weaken the PR.
June 10th, 2009 at 14:22
I don’t think tamak is the right word … there’s a saying about power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely …
June 10th, 2009 at 14:27
Farish noor is spot on as usual! PAS should have real intellectuals like this! PAS is not to be trusted - since it is an Islamist organization. Many do not understand the difference between ‘Muslim’ and ‘Islamist’. Islamist are supporters of Arab-centric medievally dogmatic political Islamic ideology (just like Nazism, Stakinism, Maoism etc), and do not have to be Muslims, that seeks to construct or sustain racist, sexist and fascist dominant power over ordinary Muslim believers and non-Muslim communities alike, in order to achieve an absolute “(One i.e. homogenous) Islamic Empire”, in opposition to modernity and westernization, especially against universal human and women’s rights. Whereas Muslims are ordinary believers who regard Islam as a personal belief between oneself and God. Further, Islamist ideology will never fundamentally recognize full liberation and equality for women/girls, gays, non-Islamic communities, converts/apostates from Islam and so on. Moreover, this include forcing girls as young as from three years old to SUBMIT to Arabic-centric veiling ideology; so that their consent can be manufactured as when they become adults, rather than from rational i/.e complete free will! Go to PAS organized meetings and you will see this very clearly - disgusting!
Besides, the most dangerous of all, this ideology dreams of a homogenously and medievally racist, sexist, fascist Arab-centric/led “Islamist Empire/Ummah”, from east to west! Even in oil-rich Malaysia and Indonesia, the Pakistan-led (& Bangladesh to a certain extent)Islamist groups have infiltrated local Islamist movements, including PAS and fanaticized such groups, thus causing increasing extremist Islamisation of the two countries, besides targeting our oil, including in oil-rich Borneo. Further, these once dynamically multicultural tolerant two countries will be the Islamist Empire base in South-East Asia.
Katharina Sri (former: Noor Aza Othman)
Germany.
June 10th, 2009 at 14:51
Come next GE, I WILL still vote for PAS (for me its either PAS or BN) not that I agree with their extreme ideology but to punish the BN for their arrogance, corrupted culture. The moment PAS is well represented in parliament and still project their extremist rantings, I will just swing my (incl. family) vote to the other side. At the moment, PAS is still the lesser of the 2 evils.
June 10th, 2009 at 15:04
PAS is PAS. Why should everyone expect PAS to be something else? They have been very consistent about their ultimate goal and approaches. They have been quite upfront about it too.
Why should they change just because we hope they change? This projection of hope and the subsequent disappointment is so “shock-sendiri” it is mind-boggling.
Part of the problem of democracy in Malaysia is that people are so naively hopeful of the outcome while all they do is sit on their fat asses and go out and vote every 5 years to vote. Miracuriously, they expect once they have done that, everything will be hunky dory.
Democracy is a long term commitment and requires much more vigilent participation than this. Freedom is not free.
June 10th, 2009 at 15:12
What say you about Pakatan’s refusal to let our children to master English?
http://thextalks.blogspot.com/2009/06/dap-doesnt-want-you-to-learn-english.html
June 12th, 2009 at 01:42
“Public doesn’t like extremists” - And many people don’t like your lax form of Islam either Mr. Noor - Go and learn your religion before you attempt to preach it to other, more qualified Muslims who don’t share your anti-Muslim and pro-secular agenda!
As Hadi recently said: “If you are not a fisherman, you cannot talk about fishing. It’s the same with SIS, if you do not have knowledge about Islam, you cannot talk about Islam,”
SIS is a secular and an extreme feminist party that intially began as a moderate NGO seeking to address the imbalances of the rights of women in the Malaysian context. They then turn ugly by mis-representing Islam and totally twisting the very sources that provide for Islamic legislature. None of their members are qualified nor learned in any of the sciences of the religion and therefore, they remain ignorant to think they can address women human rights without consideration for the cultural pollution that they foolishly link to Islam.
June 12th, 2009 at 20:07
Dear Dawud Farquhar,
Why is it that one can accept pluralism in being Muslim but not pluralism within Islam itself?
Why is it that while we lauded al-Haitam’s scientific methods in searching for answers we turn away from the rigours of social scientists and learned professionals when discussing anything Islamic?
Islam acknowledges the here and the hereafter, equally. Surely the ‘here’ bit must recognise time and geography.
June 18th, 2009 at 13:24
I am sure hypocrisy and double standards is unislamic? How then can PAS claim to uphold the values of Islam when it says one thing to Pakatan supporters and annother when the votes are well in the ballot box?