THE RELEVANCE OF PAS TO MUSLIM VOTERS

In short, why should Muslims and non-Muslims be subjected to religious rules that mainly come under the Sharia and are only crimes because religion says they are crimes? Why should religion tell me what I can and cannot do? Don’t get rid of Hudud, which is just part of the Sharia, get rid of the Sharia.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

PAS has seen many internal crises in its 64-year history but the present crisis is probably the worse one ever. This present crisis is not just an internal squabble between two groups or a case of the members no longer happy with their leadership. This crisis is going to define the very identity of the party and what it is going to transform into, if it is going to transform at all. In short, it may trigger an identity crisis in PAS.

The members are going to have to make a radical decision this June. Do they retain Abdul Hadi Awang as President or do they reject and eject him? PAS’s partners in Pakatan Rakyat, PKR and DAP, have made it very clear. They can accept PAS but not Hadi. If PAS wants to remain in Pakatan Rakyat then Hadi has to go.

A number of PAS leaders, those seen as more liberal or moderate, have stated that they reject Hudud. The renowned and well-respected Perlis Mufti has declared that it is not wrong for Muslims to reject Hudud. Hence there is nothing wrong if you want to reject Hudud. That does not make you an apostate or any less a Muslim if you reject Hudud.

No doubt Hudud is a problem and has become a huge issue of late. But Hudud is not the only controversy regarding Islam that Malaysia is faced with. In fact, I personally do not regard Hudud as a serious problem because PAS has yet to get the Sharia amendments approved by Parliament. And they need at least 112 Members of Parliament for that, which may never happen.

So, to me, Hudud may even be a non-issue since it may be almost impossible to clear the most important hurdle, Parliament’s approval to implement these laws in Kelantan. But there are many other issues other than Hudud that remain unresolved and have dragged Malaysia into controversy.

We have issues such as can Muslims hug dogs, can Muslims participate in beauty contests, can non-Muslims publish Qur’ans in Bahasa Malaysia in West Malaysia (East Malaysia no problem), can non-Muslims use Allah and about two dozen other words, what happens to the children when parents divorce and one converts out of Islam, etc. There are so many such issues that have dragged Malaysia down the road of controversy.

So, while the Perlis Mufti and liberal/moderate leaders of PAS have opined that Hudud is not compulsory and hence need not be adopted, solving that one issue does not solve the bigger picture, which is the so many dos and don’ts that Muslims and non-Muslims are being subjected to. Hell, Muslim boys cannot even dress up as girls without getting arrested. And why can’t Muslim boys dress up as girls? I think they look rather pretty if I may be allowed my opinion.

So my reaction to this is fook Hudud. That is a non-issue. What about all those other issues, which are real issues?

Anyway, back to my opening statement: that this is probably the worst crisis of the many that PAS has faced in its 64-year history. In the past the crises were all internal crisis. This present one involves outside interference. This is no longer just about two groups fighting or the members unhappy with their leader. This is about the other partners in Pakatan Rakyat, PKR and DAP, not happy with the PAS President and they want the President ousted or else PAS has to leave Pakatan Rakyat.

Hence, if they oust Hadi that would mean PKR and DAP dictate what PAS does. PAS is no longer independent. The PAS members cannot choose the leaders they want but must choose the leaders that PKR and DAP want.

PAS itself was formed against the backdrop of the religious wing of Umno breaking away from the party to form a new Islamic party due to disagreements regarding the direction that Umno was going. The religious wing wanted more Islamisation while the secularists did not. Hence PAS (at that time called PMIP) was born.

If PAS agrees that it drops its Islamisation policy and become more secular like how PKR and DAP want, then the very existence of PAS becomes questionable. Why do you need another Malay secular party when we already have Umno?

We must remember that for 51 years PAS has been campaigning for Muslim support based on rhetoric such as, kita nak menegakkan Islam, kita nak laksana Islam, Umno tolak Islam, kita memperjuangkan hukum Allah, kita nak laksana hukum Allah, and so on.

But now PAS is going to drop all that and opt for secularism. What are they now going to tell the voters in the coming general election? What new rhetoric are they going to adopt? How are they going to convince the voters that PAS is better than Umno because Umno rejects Islam while PAS propagates Islam?

Hukum Allah has been the strength of the PAS campaign. That is how they gained support. That is why they managed to rule Kelantan for so long. Now the very thing that allowed them support is going to be discarded for the sake of remaining in Pakatan Rakyat. Do the Muslim voters still need PAS then?

As it is, this problem arises mainly because Malaysia has two parallel legal systems. We have common law and we have Sharia law. Hence it is not Hudud that is really the problem. The problem is we have a dual system and we do not know which of the two takes precedence.

Say a couple divorces and one is Hindu and the other Muslim. Which court do they go to? The common law court says since it involves divorce then they should go to the Sharia court but the Sharia court says since one partner is a Hindu then they should go to the common law court. It is utter chaos.

What Pakatan Rakyat should do instead is to fight to remove the Sharia court and have only one legal system. Then the Hudud issue automatically becomes irrelevant since Hudud would come under the Sharia court. End of problem!

Can Pakatan Rakyat do this instead? Because by doing this you get rid of the Hudud problem. Then PAS can declare that it is now a secular party just like Umno but is better than Umno because it does not support corruption, abuse of power and wastage of public funds. That is what makes PAS different and better than Umno.

Now, after having getting rid of the Hudud problem, let us also get rid of the other and more serious problems. Why should Muslim girls be barred from contesting in beauty pageants? Why should Muslim boys be barred from dressing up as girls? Why should Muslims who were born Muslim not out of their own choice be barred from leaving Islam? And so on and so forth…many issues that make Malaysia look very silly in the eyes of libertarians, moderates, and secularists.

In short, why should Muslims and non-Muslims be subjected to religious rules that mainly come under the Sharia and are only crimes because religion says they are crimes? Why should religion tell me what I can and cannot do? Don’t get rid of Hudud, which is just part of the Sharia, get rid of the Sharia.