Pakatan still in dangerous waters

Though it has crossed a difficult obstacle with the decision to back Wan Azizah, there is still the Sultan to contend with.

It may be difficult returning to the old ways, now that the liberating voices of Husam Musa and Dzulkefly Ahmad of PAS have been heard. What they said may only be secondary in significance to the disregard they showed for party niceties.

The situation in Selangor, with the infighting between the Pakatan partners over the MB affair, was desperate and required desperate measures; so party protocol was tossed out the window. They could hardly be blamed as party president Abdul Hadi Awang started it all when he publicly expressed his support for MB Khalid Ibrahim independently and ahead of any collective decision taken in any party forum.

So if these men are to be censured for speaking their mind, then in all fairness, so should Hadi. But who would dare?

Although Pakatan has manoeuvred past a difficult first obstacle with yesterday’s decision to finally back Wan Azizah’s candidacy, it is not yet out of dangerous waters as the final decision still rests with the Sultan of Selangor, who returns from overseas on August 27.

Husam and Dzulkefly, for better or worse, have hitched their political fortunes to the Pakatan stage coach. They are not alone, but only among the first to come out openly about it. Together with Saari Sungib and Hasnul Baharuddin, they have paved the way for the progressive voices of PAS to assert themselves in an organisation renowned for its disciplined conservatism.

These torch bearers may carry the spark badly needed by the party to rid itself of its decades old reputation of being unrelentingly dogmatic in its religious convictions, reflective of its politics. It may only be an insubstantial spark, but if tended and fed, may yet yield surprises. These PAS faces represent the more palatable skin of the fruit, but do they represent the core and flesh?

If PAS is to be taken seriously, it must dispel the impression that people have of the green wave coming to impose a cousin version of Talibanism on them. Would they be far wrong? With their white turbans, flowing robes, waist coats and goatees, can the average non-Malay be faulted for believing that what he sees is what he gets?

If only PAS would abandon its overarching need to regulate and police what is perceived should be personal and private freedoms. This may be a hurdle too high for the party to vault over, as it would mean dropping its obsessiveness on issues of behavioural modesty and religious observance.

Another low hanging fruit that proved too tempting just four months ago was the latent hudud legislation, enacted in 1993 by the Kelantan legislative body. By way of a private member’s bill in parliament, PAS hoped to remove limitations on its implementation. This proposal was withdrawn after the party reflected on the political costs of such an action amidst widespread opposition by the public and its own coalition partners.

If the electorate could only see a discernible and sincere recalibration in the policy objectives of PAS, from that of rigid conservatism to a no less Islamic but more pragmatic and inclusive benevolent welfare state principled on social justice, then PAS would have done much to allay the fears of the non-Muslims and the progressive Malays in urban and suburban demographies.

But even lofty intentions must be fleshed out in even loftier detail, cross checked and vetted to be fully inclusive. As everyone knows, the devil is in the detail.