PAS, do you know what is "once bitten, twice shy"?

4:00PM Jun 9, 2015
By Allen Tan

Source of pic: http://www.bharian.com.my/node/41303

PAS, I am so sorry that you may not gain the trust from the non-Muslims, especially from me, again. You have voted to sever relationship with DAP without a debate. You played this game so that all the conservative leaders were voted into the top leadership.

Why were those conservatives so afraid of debate? Because you know the more you debate, the more truth would be seen. For a party which embraces extreme Islam, democracy is seen as a White People’s game!

For the past seven years since the 12th general election (GE) in 2008, your behaviour within Pakatan Rakyat was rather dubious, as you have not given up the hudud agenda completely. True enough, this year you have submitted a private member’s bill to Parliament to seek approval for hudud in Kelantan.

In fact, your ambition to implement hudud is not confined to a single state. You hoped to spread it like wildfire to all states. You even hoped to make Malaysia an Islamic state by forming a unity government with Umno.

PAS made a blunder by wrongly interpreting the last two GE results. Firstly, PAS did worse in the Parliament seats in the 13th GE than the previous one. So they thought they must be more Islamic in order to gain better Muslim support.

Secondly, PAS had gained more non-Muslim support from in the last two GEs, so they took for granted that the latter had no problems with hudud. They tried to test the ground by pressing for the hudud agenda more vigorously. And the result - a disaster! It backfired! Such a foolish move is likened to one hitting one’s own foot with a stone.

It was not Pakatan which betrayed PAS but rather the reverse. DAP criticised PAS out of principle. PAS passed the motion to sever relationship with DAP like it was child’s play. Now PAS is still considering whether to uphold the motion which was passed. PAS, do you know what is ‘once bitten, twice shy?’ It was not only DAP which was hurt, but entire non-Muslims who voted for PAS!

Now, what would I think the next move for Pakatan should be? Either PAS or DAP must leave Pakatan. The coalition could never remain status quo. Because you will never know what PAS would do if Pakatan were to win the next GE. PAS would likely join BN and the latter would rule again. Therefore, a status quo Pakatan will see defeat, because where PAS candidates are, non-Muslims will not vote for them.

MCA and Gerakan will increase their attack on Pakatan over hudud, too.

Abolish the name of ‘Pakatan Rakyat’

As such, I would suggest DAP and PKR to cooperate again, and let there be a new party, say PasMa, to join up together with them. The name of ‘Pakatan Rakyat’ must be abolished in order to kick out PAS, and a new name be replaced. It must be done immediately so that all the voters must get familiarised with the new PasMa party logo.

However, I have a little bit of concern, that is, the Registrar of Societies (ROS) could be a stumbling block. It would delay PasMa’s approval until the last minute. For example, even at this moment, DAP is still in trouble with ROS over which it has yet to receive an official letter from ROS to recognise its party election results which took place several years ago. Could ROS play up with DAP again before GE14?

Malaysia is definitely in need of intervention from God. Let us continue to pray so that Malaysia will move in God’s direction. We need to have a strong opposition coalition to directly fight with BN in GE14. We need to have more people irrespective of race and religion who are righteous to join DAP, PKR and PasMa, since our electoral system is not free and fair. We bless Malaysia and pray that a new Malaysia will rise up which will be a blessing to the nations!

Also published in: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/301243