PAS HAS UMNO AND PKR ON THE ROPES

If you are not going to get non-Muslim support you might as well go all out to get more Muslim support. And to do this you need to take away the Muslim votes from Umno and PKR. And how Umno and PKR vote in Parliament will determine this.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Many are of the view that the PAS leaders are village idiots and the recipient of a low education. They do not seem to realise that many of these PAS people actually have a tertiary education, some from overseas as well, and who majored in very complex subjects. PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang, for example, spent four years in the Medina University and four years in Cairo, two of the oldest universities in the world.

Oxford was formed in the 12th century and Cambridge in the 13th century. The Middle Eastern universities, however, were formed in the 8th century during the time of the Umayyad dynasty. In fact, the Umayyads conquered Spain 100 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad and turned that country into a centre of learning.

Many Christians from Europe went to Spain to study and books were translated from Arabic into Latin and vice versa. Christians, who spoke Latin, of course, also spoke Arabic. What surprised them was that there were many Arabic words that had no Latin equivalent. Hence in the Arabic to Latin translations they had to retain the original Arabic word.

That convinced the European Christians that the Arabs were more advanced than the Europeans in literacy and education. Most Arabs could read while only a very small percentage of Europeans were literate. Of course, the Mongol conquest of the Muslim lands 500 years later changed all that when they destroyed all the libraries and burned all the books. That was when the West took over.

Anyway, do not underestimate the intelligence and intellectual abilities of those who went to the Middle East to study instead of to the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand. They are not exactly village idiots as you make them out to be. And Abdul Hadi would be a case in point.

The issue of the Islamic State and the amendments to the Sharia to include Hudud were always part of the PAS agenda. PAS never abandoned this. What PAS agreed to do was to KIV the matter for the meantime until the time was ready to resurrect them. And this ‘time’ could mean anything.

Some like Anwar Ibrahim himself never disputed that Hudud and the Sharia are compulsory upon Muslims. He would never dare do that. What he said was Malaysians are not yet ready so we need to educate Malaysians first and explain the issue to them and only when Malaysians are ready can Hudud be implemented.

PAS’s response to this ‘wait until Malaysians are ready’ argument is Islam has been around for 1,400 years. Is 1,400 years still not enough? How much more time do we need? Another 1,400 years?

Nevertheless, PAS agreed to wait until the time is right. And that right time will reveal itself in due course.

The fact that PKR Selangor made its unilateral ‘Kajang Move’ and the ousting of Khalid Ibrahim as the Selangor Menteri Besar basically gave PAS that sign that the time is now ready. What PKR did in Selangor was what PKR wanted and not based on consensus. Hence if PKR can do that in Selangor then PAS can do the same in Kelantan.

Pakatan Rakyat would be hard-pressed to complain that PAS does not respect the wishes and views of PKR and DAP by pushing Hudud in Kelantan when PKR, too, does not respect the wishes and views of PAS by pushing the ‘Kajang Move’ and pushing out Khalid in Selangor.

In fact, PAS did give its views. And PAS said it did not agree that Khalid be kicked out. PKR, however, ignored PAS and said that this is the right of PKR to do what it wants in Selangor (even though PKR does not have the majority in Selangor like PAS has in Kelantan).

The only reason PAS held back with Hudud was out of respect to PKR and DAP. But if the trend is you can do what you like in the state that you rule then this gives PAS the legitimacy to do what it likes in Kelantan.

This was the ‘rules of the game’ that PKR established, and which DAP supported.

The passing of the Sharia amendments by the Kelantan State Assembly is already a fait accompli. Now it is up to Parliament to decide. So PAS can now wash its hands of the issue and tell the Muslims that it is now out of PAS’s hands. It is now in the hands of Parliament.

That was a very clever political move by PAS.

Okay, what about the support of the non-Muslim voters? Would PAS now lose the support of the non-Muslim voters?

What difference does it make? The non-Muslims have already declared that they will no longer support PAS because of its recalcitrance regarding the Selangor MB crisis. So how can the Hudud issue make it any worse? PAS has already lost the non-Muslim support anyway according to what the non-Muslims are saying.

If you are going to hang me for one murder I might as well shoot the whole lot. After all you can only hang me once.

So now PAS can go back to the Muslim voters and say that it has done its duty as Muslims. It is now up to the Muslim Members of Parliament from Umno and PKR to decide. If the Umno and PKR Muslims vote against Hudud then PAS can tell the voters that only PAS is a truly Islamic party. Umno and PKR are not. Umno and PKR are tools of DAP, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, etc., the kafirs.

If you are not going to get non-Muslim support you might as well go all out to get more Muslim support. And to do this you need to take away the Muslim votes from Umno and PKR. And how Umno and PKR vote in Parliament will determine this.

So PAS is not really that stupid after all like some people are saying. I think they are actually very brilliant. They have pushed Umno and PKR onto the ropes and now Umno and PKR will have to punch their way clear by showing the Muslim voters that they are truly Islamic and not the tools of the kafir. And how they vote regarding Hudud will determine this, either way.

Incidentally, the rope-a-dope tactic is Muhammad Ali’s favourite move that made him the greatest boxer in the world.