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Shah A Dadameah, Malaysian Mirror After the brief euphoria over the planned unity talks and the prospects of setting up a unity government between them, Umno and PAS are back at bashing each other to win points for the upcoming Manek Urai by-election.
Neither side is interested anymore in coming out with a road map to peace and a unity government is definitely not on their political agenda at this moment since their respective coalition partners in the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat would not give their support. In the midst of the ensuing con fusion and disappointment, PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat has come out with his version of a solution to the impasse. “Let’s just have a public debate on the matter,” he said, inviting Umno president Najib Abdul Razak to share the platform with him. Najib, however, is not interested. He reasoned that an argument between two people would not serve the interest of Islam or the nation and would just be a waste of time. His predecessors Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, along with most Umno leaders, have also discouraged the debate. Too 'small' to debate Tok Guru About the only person from Umno who has declared his willingness to debate with Nik Aziz is Deputy Education Minister Puad Zakarshi. But PAS does not think he is of the calibre to debate with their revered Tok Guru. Commenting on the issue, Perak Mufti Haarussani Zakaria (left) said the Islamic way is to have a muzakarah or discussion to mujadalah, or debates. In Islam, he told Bernama, it was better to resolve issues (towards forging unity of the ummah rather than to debate on the issue. Najib, who is prime minister insists that “sincere dialogue” was the only way towards resolving issues of the people, the religion and the country. Moreover, Umno is sore at Nik Aziz, who had akin Umno to the deviant Sky Kingdom of cult leader Ayah Pin and to the Communists. However, Nik Aziz had clarified that he was just being metaphoric. “For instance, if I say someone is like a tiger, I’m not saying he has claws, large teeth and a tail like the wild cat.” “I’m just serving a reminder to Umno not to stray from the tenets of the religion,” he said. Notwithstanding this, the Kelantan mentri besar said debates had proven to be effective in amassing support of the people, which is why they are popular among presidential candidates in the United States and Indonesia. “After every other effort to bring Umno and PAS together has failed, a debate is one way out,” he said. Ideological differences In the annals of Malay politics in Malaysia, Umno and PAS had been on the same side of the political divide only during the tenure of second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein in the early 1970s. The tiff between Umno, according to some political analysts, could be traced back to the late 1970s, in the days of Hussein Onn, the country’s third prime minister and father of current Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein. Following ideological differences between Umno and PAS and his fallout with then PAS president Asri Muda, who held a cabinet post in his administration, Hussein sacked the party from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition of 13 parties. After the exit of Asri and his followers, things were never the same again for the two parties. Detractors of PAS who chose to stay in the Barisan, formed the splinter Berjasa party under Mohamad Nasir. Several others rallied under a fourth Malay-based party, Hamim. Subsequently, dissent crept into both Umno and PAS with the latter being almost wiped out in the March 1978 general elections. Of 38 seats it contested, PAS lost 36. One of the two seats it won was the Manek Urai state seat, which will be up for grabs again on July 14 following the death of incumbent assemblyman Ismail Yaakob. PAS, however, bounced back in the 1990 general election with a huge win in Kelantan and it has held on to the state ever since. Umno, meanwhile, had its share of factional trouble, which led to its deregistration in 1998. But the wily Dr Mahathir Mohamad resurrected it in the form of Umno Baru while his opponent Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah went on to form the Semangat 46 party. First Ku Li, then Anwar Ku Li’s party lasted over two general elections and worked with PAS in an alliance called Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah, which also included Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia and the Indian Muslim-based party Kimma. In a parallel collaboration, Semangat 46 worked with the DAP, Sabah-based PBS and other smaller parties under the guise of Gagasan Rakyat . Things became complicated and confusing for the Malay politicians and neither Umno nor PAS could stop the disarray. Internal bickering in Umno aggravated the situation further and the axing of Anwar Ibrahim fractured it beyond repair, giving rise to Parti Keadilan Nasional. A string of political collaborations ensued leading to the political tsunami of March 2008 and the formation of the rival Pakatan Rakyat coalition. What the Malays are hearing now are promises and political rhetoric that are void of substance and matter. Never mind that the unity talks have been aborted. Never mind if the unity government does not take place. What the masses mind is for the politicians to just carry out the business of building the country and stop giving ideas that will not happen.
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