Nanyang Siang Pau, Editorial, 19-09-2014
Conservative leaders of PAS have shown their tough stance on the 17th of the Dewan Ulama muktamar, especially Haron Din, the deputy spiritual leader who had made strong statements, this has prompted the outsiders to believe that PAS’s alliance with the Pakatan Rakyat has reached a state which is difficult to bury the hatchet.
In his opening remark at the Dewan Ulama muktamar, Haron Din urged the PAS leaders to review the party’s partnership with Pakatan, he also said this is the only way to avoid the party from being betrayed once again by the outsiders.
He described the relationship between PAS and Pakatan is just like a marriage, if it is beyond repair, then they have to divorce.
Acting Chief of PAS Dewan Ulama Datuk Ahmad Yakob when delivering keynote address had cited Islamic verses to support Selangor menteri besar Tan Sri Khalid, he said if there is no evidence to prove that a person is guilty, then the accused person should be deemed as innocent.
Haron Din and Ahmad Yakob are the two representative figures of the conservatives in PAS, both of them had expressed their great resentment against Pakatan, this shows that the ulama faction in PAS is ready to break up with PKR and DAP.
The fragile relationships among the three allied parties in Pakatan is thus very obvious, even if PAS has chosen to stay in Pakatan, how will the party maintain a good rapport with its two political partners is a big question.
Although it looks like the Selangor menteri besar issue is the blasting fuse of the split of Pakatan, in fact as the proverb says, Rome is not build in one day, the biggest obstacle of the unity in Pakatan is PAS’s intention to build a theocracy based on PAS’s concept. Ahmad Yakob had repeatedly mentioned at the muktamar that PAS constitution clearly stated that its ultimate objective is to build a theocracy, this shows that PAS will never give up the idea of building an Islamic state.
This is the most crucial deadlock in Pakatan. There are many ruling and opposition political parties in the country but only PAS is insisted in building an Islamic state, which contravenes with political ideology of most of the parties especially DAP. How is DAP going to convince the Chinese community that PAS is a reliable political partner?
But we must salute PAS for its persistency in striving for the building of a theocracy for over half a century in its political struggle, it is not easy for a political party to do this with perseverance and consistency.
To PAS, to build a theocracy is to hold fast to a good thing, the persistency shown by some of its leaders is one element that actually lack in other political parties.
“Neither riches nor honours can corrupt him; nor threats nor forces can subdue him”, this should be the highest moral standard of a politician, we all knew the disadvantages of having two different systems in one country, and theocracy is not acceptable in Malaysia which is a democratic country, we therefore cannot agree with the Islamic nation concept upheld by PAS. However, we have to admit that there are many PAS leaders who are highly regarded with their integrity, politicians who have exemplary conduct and nobility of character are very rare, they should be the role model for all our political leaders.
Original Source: 南洋社论：民联三党破镜难圆