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Malaysian Islamic opposition: No truce with government
Associated Press - June 4, 2009
Sean Yoong, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia's Islamic opposition ruled out a rapprochement on Thursday with the main party in the governing coalition, silencing those who want to heal political divisions among the country's Malay Muslim majority.
The divide among the Malays was partly responsible for the ruling United Malays National Organization party's poor showing in the 2008 general elections. The party is the linchpin of the multiethnic National Front coalition and draws its support entirely from Malays who form 60 percent of the 27 million population.
But many Malays abandoned UMNO – seen as corrupt and venal – at the polls and voted either for the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, the country's biggest opposition group, or for two other non-Islamic opposition parties.
Most ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities also voted for one of the three parties, which came together in an unusual alliance stitched together by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, is debating at its annual congress this week whether it should mend fences with UMNO in the interest of Malay and Islamic unity to counter the growing clout of the minorities in politics.
PAS deputy president, Nasharuddin Mat Isa, who is widely believed to have tried to hold talks with UMNO, however, denied the party wants to join the National Front.
"I take this opportunity to stress that the party's top leaders never had any intention or plan" to enter the National Front, Nasharuddin said in a speech to the party's youth wing. He described the Front as "increasingly weak" as it plunges "faster into the valley of destruction."
PAS "is ready to take over the leadership of the country in the near future and bring an alternative leadership to all Malaysians, with Allah's permission," Nasharuddin said to loud cheers from delegates.
Malaysia's next general elections are not due until 2013, but even government leaders have warned that the National Front – in power since 1957 – risks losing power because of widespread public disenchantment.
PAS will hold a ballot to choose senior office-bearers for the next two years when its main congress opens on Friday. Nasharuddin is defending his post against two candidates who have vehemently opposed a tie-up with the National Front.
The Islamic party has nearly 1 million members, making it the biggest component of Anwar's three-party alliance, which won more than one-third of the seats in Parliament last year.
The party is also debating moves at its congress this week to broaden its support among ethnic Chinese and Indians by giving a larger role to some 50,000 non-Muslims who are part of the party's so-called "supporters' club."
Among those who have called for cooperation between PAS and UMNO is the ruling party's youth chief, Khairy Jamaluddin.
A dialogue between both sides could be held "for the sake of the Malays and Islam," he wrote on his blog on Thursday.
"It is most unfortunate if a leader (of the Islamic party) completely dismisses any ties" between the two sides, he wrote.
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