Archive for category PAS
Biggest flaw in Soi Lek’s new-fangled theory is whether he would back down from it when pressured by UMNO
The main objective of MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek’s new-fangled theory that Malaysia had been trapped for a decade as a middle-income nation because of “non-progressive” competition between UMNO and PAS is to pass-the-buck and disclaim MCA responsibility for the deplorable state of the Malaysian nation 53 years after Merdeka to the extent that one Cabinet Minister had warned that Malaysia could go backrupt in the year 2019!
However, the biggest flaw for Chua’s new-fangled theory is whether he would back down from it when pressured by UMNO!
In the first place, Malaysia had been stuck in a middle-income nation trap for some two decades and not just the past 10 years – as admitted by the New Economic Model that since becoming an upper-middle income country in 1992, Malaysia has largely stayed where it is.
Can this be solely explained by the competition between Umno and PAS in using religion to strengthen their influence resulting in “non-progressive policies”? Read the rest of this entry »
Anwar insists PAS-Umno talks will never take place
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Malaysian Insider
July 28, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has nixed the chance of unity talks ever taking place between his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) ally PAS and the ruling coalition’s Umno, even without being stonewalled by the Islamist party’s Spiritual Adviser, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) Malay party has long viewed Nik Aziz as the main stumbling block towards achieving bi-party unity and political cooperation, an idea that has repeatedly cropped up post Election 2008.
“PAS maintains its stand it will not cooperate with Umno based on its past experiences and without being backed by principles.
“PAS leaders also reject this cooperation,” Anwar was reported saying during a visit to Kumpulan Media Karangkraf yesterday.
The PKR de facto chief added that Umno did not understand PAS; noting the grand old Malay party thought “if they can capture Nik Aziz, they would be able to control PAS.” Read the rest of this entry »
Pas win with bigger majority in Manek Urai by-election will be a clear and unmistakable signal to Najib that his Hundred Day performance and goodies are just not good enough and people expect meaningful reforms in his next 100 Days
Posted by Kit in Election, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Monday, 13 July 2009
I just returned from Manek Urai in Kelantan where I attended the last Pakatan Rakyat ceramah at Kampong Perial last night, which saw a record ceramah crowd for the by-election campaign.
The prognosis is most favourable and a Pas win with bigger majority in Manek Urai by-election than the general elections last year will be a clear and unmistakable signal to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in two senses:
- That together with the people in the West Coast in Peninsular Malaysia as demonstrated in the three by-elections after Najib became Prime Minister, i.e. Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambu and Penanti, the people in the East Coast stand as one in their solid support for Pakatan Rakyat in the nation-wide demand for political change; and
- That Najib’s Hundred Day performance and goodies are just not good enough and people expect meaningful reforms in his next 100 Days.
The voters of Manek Urai have a historic mission tomorrow. In the 1978 general elections, when PAS was nearly smashed to smithereens by Umno winning only two State Assembly seats in Kelantan after Pas was thrown out of Barisan Nasional and a period of emergency rule, Manek Urai was one of the two.
In 1978, the voters of Manek Urai were the “saviours” of PAS but tomorrow, the voters of Manek Urai have the mission to be the “saviours” of Malaysia in paving the way for another historic political tsunami in the next general elections for the ending of Umno political hegemony and Barisan Nasional rule at the national level.
Pakatan Rakyat’s second “crisis of confidence”
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Friday, 3 July 2009
(The headline for the Malaysian Insider “No let-up as Kit Siang continues attacks against PAS ahead of Kedah trip” is not correct, as it is not reflected in the contents of its report.
It implied that I was continuing to “attack” the Pakatan Rakyat government in Kedah. This is not the case.
It further implied that I had attacked the PR Kedah state government yesterday. This was also not the case.
Pakatan Rakyat is facing a second crisis of confidence and efforts must be made to resolve it.
This is why I am not only meeting the Kedah State DAP tomorrow but also have a dialogue with the people of Kedah in Alor Star tomorrow night. (New Straits Times today had wrongly reported that I would be meeting residents in the abbatoir area when I said I would be having a people’s dialogue in Alor Star).
Both the Malaysian Insider and New Straits Times report are reproduced below.)
Read the rest of this entry »
Relativism and the Politics of Absolutes
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Thursday, 2 July 2009
By Farish A. Noor
Studying Malaysian politics is a chore in itself, but rewarding for the simple reason that it is one of the most plural, complex and complicated countries in the world. Among all the countries that I have worked on, it is Malaysia that continues to challenge my capacity to think (and relax) for the simple reason that its communitarian mode of sectarian politics is an odd blend of modernity and primordialism that is seldom equalled anywhere else.
At present the opposition coalition known as the Peoples Alliance (Pakatan Rakyat) is once again in a state a crisis – or rather manifold crises – as the component parties bicker over the mode of governance in the states that they won after the elections of March 2008. Bringing together the predominantly Chinese-Malaysian Left-leaning DAP, the multiracial PKR and the overwhelmingly Malay-Muslim Islamists of PAS was never an easy task; and it was said from the outset that the coalition was an instrumental one.
Today however the coalition is once again at breaking point after the DAP threatened to leave the coalition over a dispute over the destruction of a pig abattoir in the state of Kedah, disputes over contracts awarded to development projects in Penang and Selangor, and the lingering fear that the Islamists of PAS will push their Islamisation agenda in the states that have come under their control. Seemingly trivial matters such as the sale of pork and alcohol have forced all three parties to the defensive, with each party holding steadfast to its stand. Read the rest of this entry »
Unity govt a betrayal all around
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Tuesday, 23 June 2009
by Oon Yeoh
The Edge
The much-hyped, but now abandoned, unity-government concept, first touted by PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang in March, and welcomed by all and sundry within Umno is a betrayal.
From Pakatan Rakyat’s perspective, it is a betrayal of voters’ trust. Malays who voted for PAS did so because they preferred it over Umno. Non-Malays who voted for PAS didn’t do so because they wanted PAS but because they rejected Umno. In either case, PAS teaming up with Umno is the last thing these Malay and non-Malay voters want.
By pushing for unity-government talks, the faction headed by PAS Deputy President Nasharuddin Mat Isa, is betraying PAS’ coalition partners DAP and PKR, which consider Umno the enemy (as do most of PAS’ grassroots).
Lastly, this faction is betraying PAS itself, which campaigned on a platform of a “welfare state”, with justness for everybody, not just Malays or Muslims.
What else could you call a PAS-Umno unity government but a race-exclusive government? Read the rest of this entry »
The Poison of “Unity” Government
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, PAS, UMNO on Monday, 22 June 2009
by M. Bakri Musa
The two Malay political parties – UMNO and PAS – are battling each other to convince us that each is better than the other in advancing the “Malay agenda.” The two are like ageing fighters stuck with their same old tired moves. They are oblivious of the fact that we are fed up with their act; their lack of vigor and imaginative new strategies.
In a clumsy if not desperate attempt for new moves they concocted a ‘vision’ for a ‘unity’ government based on the two parties! Left unstated is the question: Unity for what and against whom?
I wish that they would expend their efforts on making our people competitive, and thus lifting us out of poverty. That is the most important Malay agenda today. Better yet, I would prefer that they just exit the ring and let others run the show for a change.
I fail to see how this ‘unity’ government would make Malays more competitive. The track record for UMNO is for all to see. Corruption is now rampant, as well as the erosion of the integrity of our institutions and the deepening polarization of Malaysians. The Melayu Baru (New Malay) of UMNO has now morphed into Melayu Barua (Malay scoundrels). Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan Rakyat foremost task – resolve first crisis of confidence by sending out clear message that PR parties committed to “new politics” and reject “old politics” of “divide-and-rule”
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Sunday, 21 June 2009
Tomorrow, Pakatan Rakyat parties must resolve the first crisis of confidence faced by PR in 14 months after the political tsunami of the March 8 general elections by sending out a clear and unmistakable message to Malaysians that Paktan Rakyat rejects the old Malaysian politics based on “divide-and-rule” and the fear factor by standing up solidly for “new politics” in representing the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or territory.
Recently, UMNO strategists have been very successful in planting doubts among Malaysians who had created the political tsunami which saw Pakatan Rakyat winning five state governments and ended the Barisan Nasional two-thirds parliamentary majority and terminated Umno political hegemony in Malaysian politics whether they had made the right choice.
Pakatan Rakyat leaders’ foremost task and greatest challenge at the PR leadership council meeting tomorrow is to assure these architects of the 2008 political tsunami that they had not made the wrong choice, that PR is prepared to move forward to give meaning to the “new politics” of the future and to put the old politics of the past 52 years solidly behind us. Read the rest of this entry »
Muhyiddin pushing for Umno-Pas unity government makes a total mockery of Najib’s 1Malaysia concept, undoing 52 years of Malaysian nation-building by five previous Prime Ministers
At the meeting of DAP MPs in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, I said that Malaysian politics is in the throes of great flux and even lightning change.
This has been borne out by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin pushing for Umno-Pas “unity government” talks, trying to expedite an Umno-Pas meeting “in the next few days, anytime, no problem”, even sugarcoating it by declaring that Umno “will not impose any conditions and we accept whatever terms set by PAS”.
If any political leader or observer had been asked before Muhyiddin’s overture in Kuala Krai yesterday whether the No. 1 or No. 2 Umno leader could have made such a public proposition to PAS, nobody would have answered in the positive.
So what game is Muhyiddin up to?
Muhyiddin’s political gambit is all the more intriguing as his latest mentor, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had on the same day expressed his disapproval of the proposed unity talks between Umno and PAS, saying he did not think that the country wants a government which is 100 per cent Malay.
Read the rest of this entry »
Muhyiddin the latest political leader to do the somersault to become the champion of “Umno-Pas unity government talks” and repudiate Najib’s 1Malaysia concept
Deputy Prime Minister and Umno Deputy President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is the latest political leader to perform the somersault – taking a diametrically opposite position from the one he had postured only a few days or even a few hours ago!
Speaking in Kuala Krai this morning, Muhyiddin said Umno wants talks on a unity government to be sped up and asks PAS leaders to forget past conflicts in the interest of the unity of Muslims in the country.
He said he wanted the talks to materialise because he feared that if the matter was allowed to drag on, it would create disunity among the Muslims.
He declared: “We will not impose any conditions and we accept whatever terms set by PAS. As far as I’m concerned, we have to be open.”
The Umno deputy president urged PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat to forget about the conflicts between PAS and Umno in the ‘70s, when both parties cooperated to form the Kelantan state government and the national government.
Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s latest tango in the UMNO-PAS “unity government” talks highly suspect as its real motive is to split PAS and divide Pakatan Rakyat
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s latest tango in the Umno-Pas “unity government” talks is highly suspect as its real motive is to split PAS and divide Pakatan Rakyat.
Najib said he believed Pas was sincere in wanting to form a unity government with Umno as proposed by its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and Umno would not reject any co-operation that could bring benefit to the country.
Why has Najib suddenly warmed up to the idea of Umno-Pas “unity government” when only three days earlier the Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Umno President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had poured cold water on it, dismissing the proposal as unlikely to become a reality with differences within Pas itself and the Pakatan Rakyat parties.
Muhyiddin even said that Umno was prepared to “to respond to the proposal if it was mutually beneficial but would not do so now. Until today, there is nothing concrete.” Read the rest of this entry »
OTK on the run from 3-questions-a-day on RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal
“Kit Siang ‘misled community’” – New Straits Times
“What’s your stand, Kit Siang asked” – The Star
Screaming headlines attacking me are back in the Barisan Nasional-controlled mainstream media.
Suddenly the MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat himself has led a ferocious political charge against me, challenging me to state my stand on the resolutions tabled by PAS at its muktamar last week and wanting me to apologise for misleading and betraying the Chinese community for supporting Pas.
This is the New Straits Times report:
He (Ong) said in the run-up to the general election, DAP had appealed to the Chinese community to support Pas by claiming that the Islamic party was harmless and only interested in setting up a welfare state. Read the rest of this entry »
Another Lesson in PAS History: The Malaysian Public Does’nt Like Extremists
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, PAS on Thursday, 11 June 2009
By Farish A. Noor
The repercussions of the somewhat clumsy attempt by some sections of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS to call for the investigation, and possibly banning, of the Muslim women’s rights group Sisters in Islam are still being felt today. Many questions have arisen in the wake of the proposal that was passed without debate at the recent General Assembly of PAS: How and why was the proposal passed as one of the ‘non-debated proposals’ in the first place? Why was it not vetted properly and why was it tabled at all? What does this say about the internal cohesion of PAS and its internal discipline? Does this proposal reflect just a faction of opinion among PAS members, or is it actually representative of the party as a whole? And what does this mean with regards to PAS’s avowed claims to be a modern party that supports the democratisation process and dialogue with others?
It is hard, to say the least, to believe that a party can be supportive of democracy if it starts by calling for the banning of NGOs even before it comes to power…
For now however we are left to watch the internal and external drama of PAS unfold as the party seeks to re-consolidate itself after what was clearly a hectic assembly for all. The lingering question of where PAS really stands, and where it goes from here though will have to be addressed sooner than later. Read the rest of this entry »
How Soon We Forget: Malaysia’s Ahistorical Politics
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, PAS, Politics, UMNO on Wednesday, 10 June 2009
By Farish A. Noor
How soon we forget. Malaysian politics is characterized by a curious form of ahistoricity and a willful neglect of history in general. The contribution of the diverse communities of Malaysia to the country’s nation-building process is often forgotten in the official narratives of the country, the role of women in our national history is seldom even mentioned.
Malaysian politicians and political parties are likewise blind to history, and even recent history at that. Which has prompted many of my students to ask me the same question: “How come people don’t seem to remember anything in this country, and how come alliances can be made one day and broken the day after?” Well that, dear students, is precisely what Malaysian politics is made up of: Pragmatism that is grounded on political ambitions rather than the empowerment and education of the people. Politics here seems to be more directed towards the acquisition of political power for politicians than the political empowerment of the public; for the latter means having to educate the public, and to remind them of their history as well.
Now that all of Malaysia is abuzz with talk about the impending collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat and the moves to bring the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS closer to UMNO, let us revisit the history of these two parties for a while… Read the rest of this entry »
Demonisation and the Politics of Banning : Why PAS Should Look To Its Own History
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, Islam, PAS on Monday, 8 June 2009
By Farish A. Noor
The recent general assembly of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS has left us with a rather mixed serving of results and outcomes, some of which will linger for a while and some of which may prove harder to digest than others. Despite the re-iteration of PAS’s stand vis a vis the UMNO party that was couched in oppositional terms, we are left with the question of PAS’s long-term orientation and objectives, and where the party will go from here. It is clear that the party remains divided over the question of dialogue and co-operation with UMNO, which has been its nemesis since its genesis in 1951.
But when it comes to the question of dialogue and engagement, PAS’s stand seems clearer with regards to other Islamic movements and NGOs in the country: While PAS has demonstrated its willingness to work with some of the more conservative Muslim groups in Malaysia, it has steadfastly refused to work with other groups, notably Muslim feminist organisations such as Sisters in Islam (SIS).
What has shocked many of us, however, was the call on the part of PAS to have SIS investigated by the religious authorities of the country on the grounds that it is a movement that has allegedly ‘misled’ Muslims and which has been tainted by liberal ideas. More worrying still was the call to have SIS banned if it is found to be somehow ‘anti-Islamic’ in its activities. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS finding its way still : Some Observations on the Speech by PAS President Ustaz Hadi Awang
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, PAS on Friday, 5 June 2009
By Farish A. Noor
The opening speech to the 55th Muktamar of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS should be read closely and given the consideration that is due to it, particularly as it comes from the party President himself, Ustaz Hadi Awang, and in some respects gives an accurate reflection of the state of the party and the mindset of its senior leadership. Having said that, the speech of Hadi Awang that was delivered during the opening session of the Muktamar was both rich and complex, and should be read closely by those of us who are interested in the political fortunes of PAS and the future of the party in Malaysia.
Perhaps the most salient feature of the speech was the straightforward declaration of PAS’s oppositional stand vis a vis UMNO, which was described by Hadi in his speech in rather negative terms. The tone of Ustaz Hadi’s speech would resonate with the members of PAS who were worried about any possible compromise on the part of their own Islamist party and the possibility of a PAS-UMNO tie-up in the near future. After describing UMNO as a party that was materialist, corrupt and a lackey to the British colonial powers in the past, one can safely assume that any notion of a PAS-UMNO marriage of convenience has been put on the shelf for the moment at least…
Read the rest of this entry »
“Unity talk” for PR-BN government – never arose or discussed at any PR leadership meeting
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Friday, 5 June 2009
I attended the 15th PAS Muktamar opening ceremony at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam this morning and left after lunch.
The media have been chasing after me to comment on what PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang said in a media conference after his presidential address.
I do not know what Hadi actually said, but in view of the public interest on the question of “unity talks”, I have two comments while making the general observation that political parties and political leaders must be prepared to talk to anyone on any issue concerning public interest, viz:
Read the rest of this entry »
Time for PAS to Demonstrate Its Ability to be a National Party
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, PAS on Thursday, 4 June 2009
By Farish A Noor
This week will witness the fifty-fifth General Assembly of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), that has been on the political landscape of Malaysia since 1951, though its actual historical presence in Malaysia dates back even further, to the country’s first Islamic party Hizbul Muslimin, in 1948. Malaysia-watchers and analysts are looking very closely at PAS today, and there has been ample speculation about the fate and future of key PAS ideologues and leaders, notably the representatives of the two camps in the party otherwise known as the conservatives and progressives.
Distinctions such as ‘conservatives’ and ‘progressives’ are not very useful in cases such as these however, for they tell us little about the goings-on in PAS and they lend the mistaken impression that the differences within the party can be essentially reduced to such simple binary opposites. Needless to say PAS’s opponents are likewise tempted to use such dichotomies in their own lame efforts to divide and weaken the party, and such divisive tactics are long familiar to those who have studied Malaysian politics over the past half a century or so…
Read the rest of this entry »
Why as a Chinese I will always vote PAS
Posted by Kit in DAP, Islamic state, Letters, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Monday, 19 January 2009
Letters
by Jonathan Tan
It has now been 51 years since independence, and although it was predominantly a Malay Archipelago, immigrants who had to work the land during the British colonial era; by default became citizens after Malaya attained independence in 1957.
Much was promised. Equal rights to jobs, educational and business opportunities. But all this came to naught in 1969 when Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’ founding father, was unceremoniously sent into early retirement and hawks like Razak and Harun took over and used Malay special rights as their vehicle to build a corrupted society that saw the division between the have and have nots widen.
The process took a turn for the worse during the Mahathir era when he hand picked cronies to award contracts and kept privatized entities such as the Governments’ GLC’s in the government’s stables, obviating the very reason to privatize these entities.
Till this day, these organizations show neither discernible accountability nor transparency. The country bleeds like a wounded kancil. Read the rest of this entry »
‘PAS to win by 7,000 majority’
Posted by Kit in Election, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Saturday, 17 January 2009
by Ong Kian Ming
Jan 17, 09 8:01am
Malaysiakini
There is this phenomenon in the United States called Monday Morning Quarterback.
It describes a person who says that he or she always knew what the outcome of the Sunday football games was going to be and proceeds to give an explanation for why the game resulted in the eventual result. In other words, this person is passing judgment from a position of hindsight, which is always 20/20.
I could easily play this game in regard to the upcoming Terengganu by-election. It would be far too easy for me to list down, on Sunday, reasons as to why PAS won the by-election and at the same time, to have ready an alternative list of reasons as to why the BN/Umno managed to win the same by-election in case of an upset.
It is however a far harder and much riskier endeavour to predict who is going to win, and by what margin, before the fact. Read the rest of this entry »
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