November 07, 2009 15:07 PM

Political Observers Say PAS Cannot Be An Alternative Party

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 (Bernama) -- PAS cannot become an alternative party if it cannot accept the constitution of the country that also recognises non-Muslims said political observer Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari.

"It is a constitution that we know, if we cannot accept it we cannot become an alternative party. So, don't get antagonized and question the status of Islam. We also must concentrate on the non-Muslims and focus on how to win over their hearts," said Abdul Aziz who is a law lecturer at the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA), during the PAS extraordinary general meeting (EGM) or "muktamar" here on Saturday.

Abdul Aziz and Prof Madya Dr Abu Hassan Hasbullah from Universiti Malaya were the two political observers invited by PAS to give their alternative views on how to strengthen the party.

Abdul Aziz also chided PAS for blaming Umno every time something negative happened to the party and added that PAS must instead look at within the party circle to correct or resolve issues when they arised.

"PAS must become an 'open' party that can be the focus of all the people. Don't play the same old 'blame game' and blame Umno for everything little thing that goes wrong. We must focus on the party from within," said Abdul Aziz.

Abu Hassan meanwhile, said PAS will face a serious problem in the next general election since studies showed that the younger generation had a negative perception towards the current party leaders.

He added that studies on the results of the last general election also showed that the younger generation did not recognise PAS leaders.

"According to a survey, they only knew PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, former Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, Mohamad Sabu and Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak," he said.

Abu Hassan added that a study on blogs that had supported PAS previously, were now 'fence-seaters' and that the increase in percentage of such blogs was 213 percent.

-- BERNAMA

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