Carpe diem, profligatus

In the confusion of poor strategic and tactical communication and the two month old ‘Melayu-Spring’, UMNO lost its golden opportunity to rally up support, fortify position and projection of strength as the backbone of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional in the midst of the Oppositions’ lowest ebb, all and sundry.

Pro-Anwarista story on PAS’s last Annual Convention in Kuala Selangor:

Motion to cut ties with DAP without debate sparks anger in PAS muktamar

BY JAMILAH KAMARUDIN

Published: 6 June 2015 10:16 AM

Son of former PAS president and Rembau delegate Mohammad Faiz Fadzil today questions the decision not to debate the motion to sever ties with DAP. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, June 6, 2015.
Son of former PAS president and Rembau delegate Mohammad Faiz Fadzil today questions the decision not to debate the motion to sever ties with DAP. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, June 6, 2015.
The final day of PAS’s 61st annual congress began on a heated note this morning when delegates protested against the muktamar’s decision‎ to accept a motion to sever ties with DAP and yet remain in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) without debate.

In announcing the motion, PAS information chief Datuk Mahfuz‎ Omar told delegates that it was a “sensitive” issue, but defended the decision not to debate it on the grounds that several top leaders had agreed to it.

‎This prompted Rembau delegate Mohammad Faiz Fadzil to question why such an important motion was passed without debate.

“Why can’t we debate this sensitive‎ issue, especially since it involves PAS’s direction? How are we to answer our members?” said Faiz, who is the son of former PAS president Datuk Fadzil Noor.
“We can’t just divorce them, yet remain under the same roof. This is a lopsided coalition.

“Why did Datuk Mahfuz say this is a sensitive motion? If you’re brave enough to raise this motion,‎ let the delegates debate it and explain what you mean by ‘sensitive’.”

A delegate from Kota Raja also stood up to remind the top leadership seated on the stage not to take the matter lightly.

“We have rights in the muktamar. Decisions made in the muktamar should be discussed in the muktamar, not in WhatsApp of Facebook,” said the delegate.

‎”Those in Selangor know how important the tahaluf siyasi (political cooperation) is. Don’t take it lightly.”‎

Mahfuz rose and said his remark about “sensitivity” was in reference to the consequences the motion would have on Pakatan Rakyat-led states.‎

“I am only carrying out my duties. We may lose our positions, but we must be steadfast in our battles and trust in Allah, even though we will be alone once again,”‎ said Mahfuz.

In their motion, the PAS Dewan Ulama as well as the Tumpat PAS division demanded that the party not give up its core goals for the sake of victory, ‎and called for its coalition partners to respect each party’s stance and policies.

‎The Dewan Ulama passed the emergency motion during its assembly in Gombak on Wednesday.‎

The motion was first tabled by Dewan Ulama central committee member Mokhtar Senik, who said DAP’s actions had crossed the limits of acceptable behaviour.

Temerloh MP Nasruddin Hassan Tantawi said yesterday that the Dewan Ulama passed the motion as retaliation for the many blows DAP had dealt to the Islamist party.

However, Hadi told reporters yesterday that the Dewan Ulama’s motion was not the party’s official decision, adding that it had to be brought to the Shura Council first for further discussions.

Two other motions approved today without debate were the full support for the ‎Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code II 1993 (Amendment 2015), and the demand for the Education Ministry to teach Quran and hadith in primary and secondary schools. – June 6, 2015.

– See more at:http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/motion-to-cut-ties-with-dap-without-debate-sparks-anger-in-pas-muktamar#sthash.wTHF0lRO.dpuf

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The Ulama’s with PAS coup of all strategic posts over pro-Anwarista Erdogans in this round’s party election is a demonstration that the self-proclaimed Islamist centric party is trying to regain their tradition role and philosophy.

The Star’s political columnist Joceline Tan’s story:

Published: Saturday June 6, 2015 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday June 6, 2015 MYT 6:42:02 AM

Tsunami wipes out big names

BY JOCELINE TAN
PAS members are still coming to terms with the massive sweep by the pro-ulama group but the reality is that the party is set to put the religion upfront and centre from now on.

IT was the morning after the “ulama tsunami” and many in PAS were still trying to absorb what had happened.

Even the winners were amazed at their near perfect victory. The losers, many of whom were lumped with the professionals group, were equally amazed but in a less positive way.

The normally garrulous Mohamad Sabu was, for once, at a loss for words after losing badly to Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, the new No. 2. When pressed by reporters for a reaction, he said he accepted the result but was “puzzled”.

The incumbent deputy president was probably still in a state of shock after getting only 24% of the votes.

It was quite a humiliating defeat and, on hindsight, he had it coming. He had failed to defend his own party leader and instead defended those who attacked his party.

Mat Sabu’s popularity outside the party had failed to translate into votes inside the party and his political future is now in question.

If there is a lesson to be learnt from the outcome of the PAS election, it is that you cannot expect support from party members if you are perceived as being less than loyal to your own party.

You cannot act deaf and dumb when others attack your party president. Worse, you cannot, like Sepang MP Hanipa Maidin, join in the attacks.

In 2013, Hanipa got the third highest votes in the central committee but, this time, he was shown the door together with Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad who was regarded as his “guru”.

“DAP is partly to blame for what happened to this group. The things that DAP said about our president, it was nonsense to many of us. Our members could not stand it,” said an aide to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

The other shocker about the election result was the way delegates booted out big names, including MPs and assemblymen, without a second thought.

Former Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin was also out in the cold, although he came in No. 4 in the central committee in the 2013 election.

Big personalities and positions seemed to matter less to the delegates than defending their Tuan Guru and Hadi.

The “ulama tsunami” also wiped out the so-called “Anwaristas”, the group which joined PAS after the sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

They rose up in PAS over the last 15 years and tried to change the party’s image and direction. But the journey has ended for them just as it has ended for Anwar.

The professionals have blamed their loss on the “menu voting” employed by the pro-ulama. But there is no money politics in play and no one can force the delegates to follow the menu unless they support the line-up.

The professionals have given outsiders the impression that they represent the thinking in PAS but the reality is that they have only about 30% support in the party.

At least Malaysians now have the correct picture of what PAS is largely about – Islam, ulama leadership and hudud law.

The new central committee is dominated by people who are on the same page as Hadi. The new central leadership line-up is also stacked with religious scholars and Hadi is planning to balance things by filling the appointed positions with professionals.

Hadi was apparently just as surprised as everyone else about the sweeping victory by the pro-ulama group. When a top aide informed Hadi of the result last evening, he was quite incredulous and had asked the aide to check again.

When the results were announced yesterday and Hadi was named as the winner, he had looked down, his lips had moved silently in thanksgiving and he blinked several times as though to hold back tears. It was quite an emotional moment for him.

Hadi has been quite stressed by the last few months of internal infighting. However, it was nothing compared to the stress he went through during the Selangor Mentri Besar crisis.

Some in the professionals camp have claimed that Hadi changed after a heart attack when in Istanbul. They said he became less accommodating and has become difficult to reason with. They think the heart attack affected him psychologically.

His heart had stopped and it is a miracle that he is still alive and going strong. Near-death experiences do tend to change people. He changed but not in the way the professionals claimed.

Hadi is a God-fearing man and he sees his near-death experience as a signal from Allah to do the right thing for the party and that is to take the party back on the Islamic path.

He was given a new lease of life and he wants to make full use of it. He feels that too many compromises have been made and it is time to place the religion upfront and centre again in the party.

It was the same for the late Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat who had given his heartfelt support to his successor’s move to implement hudud law in Kelantan. Political expediency had prevented him from doing it when he was the Mentri Besar and he gave his unreserved blessings.

Some have claimed that the PAS election would have turned out differently if Nik Aziz was still alive.

They are wrong. Nik Aziz would have stood by Hadi and defended him to the hilt and the ulama tsunami would have been even bigger.

>The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.

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The fact is that UMNO leaders in the past few weeks were drawn into very childish, worthless and unproductive political games, which is based on the aggregate of misguided information, sinister political agenda, perception and gossip. Worse of all, banking and even gambling on false hopes.

UMNO leaders especially those at Supreme Council and State Liaison levels should reflect on how BN leaders in Sabah and Sarawak recently managed to rally a thumping rakyat support for Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak, in his trying moments here in Semenanjung.

Sabahans and Sarawakians are focused on issues of moving forward and not an inch be misguided and/or affected in any way by sordid “National scandals” such as 1MDB and GST.

They perfectly understand to move forward and achieve the desired strategic destination, they would have to work with the Prime Minister and his administration.

UMNO leaders should pull up their socks and be focusing on the real fight. Even supreme leaders within the (Un)Holy-marriage-of-(in)convenience-between-backstabbing-strange-bedfellows aka Opposition acknowledges openly their problem of opposing philosophies and objectives, deep mistrust and false co-operation.

Pro-Anwarista newsportal Malaysiakini story:

4:00PM Jun 5, 2015
By Susan Loone

Guan Eng: PAS’ main target now DAP, not Umno

56 7 0 12

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng says Umno is no longer PAS’ main target as he said the Islamist party continued to bash DAP during its annual muktamar in Gombak, Selangor.

Lim was responding to the PAS party election results which were known late last night where the party president Abdul Hadi Awang’s faction – consisting mostly ulama – swept clean most of the top posts.

“The results are expected,” Lim said today when asked to comment about his close ally, former PAS deputy president Mohamed Sabu, who failed to retain his post.

Asked if the DAP would be making a decision as to its position in Pakatan Rakyat following the new developments in PAS, Lim (photo) said a statement would be issued after the ongoing PAS muktamar.

“Let them continue their DAP-bashing […] somehow I feel Umno is no longer their main target already,” Lim said at a press conference in Penang.

“The people can make their own assessment,” added the Penang chief minister noting that the PAS Dewan Ulama had passed a resolution urging the party to sever ties with DAP.

Lim, however, said the existing cooperation between DAP and PAS would remain unchanged in Penang.

However, it would be up to PAS to decide whether they want to remain in their positions in Penang, Lim added.

‘Sidelined claims incorrect’

PAS leaders and members have been appointed to various posts in the state including those in the Penang Island City Council and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council as well as in village and development security (JKKK) committees and mosque committees.

On PAS being allegedly ‘sidelined’ in Penang, Lim said the claim was incorrect.

“If you look at the posts offered to PAS leaders, they are more than those offered to them in other Pakatan states and this even though PAS has only one state assemblyman in Penang” Lim said.

“If they are not happy about it (their number of posts), they can ask for a revision,” he added.

Lim said those who claimed that PAS was marginalised in Penang were probably ‘frustrated’ they were not given any positions.

The ‘sidelined’ claim was made at the muktamar by PAS Penang Dewan Ulama delegate Mohd Hanif Harun who is the board member of the Kolej Islam Technology Antarabangsa Pulau Pinang (Kitab).

Kitab is under the purview of the Majlis Agama Islam Pulau Pinang, and its president is PAS Permatang Pasir assemblyman Salleh Man.

“This shows that he (Mohd Hanif) is incorrect. Please do not slander us, as slander is worst than murder,” Lim said.

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UMNO leaders here in Semenanjung should reflect how painful and very slow it was for them to heal wounds from very ugly internal conflicts. And battle scars will always remind them of the deep ill feeling. Time and again, history has proven that.

It is very unproductive to play the tactical games now, in the manner it is being played.

In the past UMNO has proven itself as a nationalist party of the masses led by noblemen and intellectuals, who managed to rally the overwhelming support of the rakyat and negotiate and co-operate with other political entities of different ethnicity.

UMNO leaders too managed to convince His Royal Highnesses to represent Malaya, the Malays and Malayans to negotiate with the colonialists for the Independence. In a short period of several rounds of sitting around tables, they  brought forth a nation, in the highest systematic and structured order and form.

All without shedding a drop of blood or even a breadth of insult thrown.

They did it again in 1962-3. The Federation of Malaysia was born as a result. UMNO leaders then earned the trust and confidence of more people to administer the bigger Federation.

Since 13GE, UMNO leaders should be paving the way for BN as a coalition of 13 parties in a package, to overcome all the issues which matters most to majority of the rakyat. Furthermore, in the gross absence, flaws, intra and inter spats and self-contradictions by the Opposition on their own time and space.

The opportunities do presented themselves. The aftermath of the great flood in Kelantan last moonsoon season was a great opportunity. So was the when MB-Khalid Ibrahim unceremoniously removed in a coup d’etat which upsets HRH Sultan of Selangor, upon the failure of the ‘Kajang Move’. The more recent is Kelantan State Assembly enactment of the Hudud Bill.

All are opportunities, for carpe diem.

If UMNO leaders remain to be blinded by their short term tactical games and not at all focusing on the strategic end game, then the survival of the Malays shall end when Barisan Nasional no longer enjoy majority mandate in the current maximum Parliamentary term of slightly lesser than three years.

Then it would be all, profligatus. -bigdogdotcom