November 07, 2009 22:32 PM

PAS Seminar Fails To Resolve Party's Position In Opposition Coalition

By Noor Hayati Muda

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 (Bernama) -- Going by the proceedings of the one-day Pas political seminar the perception emerges that the party's desire to forge formally with the opposition coalition has not had the blessings of all party leaders.

This follows murmurs at Markas Pas at Taman Melewar here that questioned the 'tahaluf' (political collaboration) among the party, DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

There were delegates who wanted the party leadership to state clearly the boundaries of collaboration and not else were those who said they were willing to topple the leadership so that there would not be two-party system, namely the Barisan Nasional and the opposition coalition.

However, on the average, delegates present were seen to be accepting the view that Pas be a coalition member.

This situation was seen during the debate on the micro-study of the beliefs of Universiti Malaya political observer and acamedician, Associate Prof. Dr Abu Hassan Abdullah.

The keynote address by Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang also stated that the party wanted to cement cooperation but at the same time wanted to portray Pas as a party that could stand on its own.

Pas, according to Abdul Hadi, was well experienced and was not only capable of being in the opposition solely but was also capable of running a state.

Such a view can be seen as being a clear message to coalition partners that Pas did not actually need the DAP and PKR to win elections.

Still, Abdul Hadi's speech was not in tandem with Pas spiritual leader, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who had stated that the party had no objection to being in a coalition in an formal manner. Today's seminar that was actually supposed to be a forum for Pas to strengthen the party but turned into a platform for some delegates to berate political observer Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari who was invited by the party.

They were not happy with criticisms by Abdul Aziz through a Bahasa Melayu tabloid last month that among others alluded to the failure of the party's leadership to resolve several issues, especially those related to Pas in Selangor.

The irony of it all was that the invitation to Abdul Aziz was based on his being a lecturer at the International Islamic University Malaysia to share his views with party leaders to strengthen the party.

The actions of a section of delegates spurred another invited political observer, Associate Prof Dr Abu Hassan Hasbullah, to say that they should actually offer their views and not berate.

"Why get angry with debaters? That's primitive. What needs to be discussed today is political intelligence. This is not the 17th century. Why must we assume what's written is all libel and not information?," he said.

The seminar on Saturday neither did produce resolutions overcoming issues nor encourage hopes to cement cooperation for the next general election.

-- BERNAMA

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