PAS failings self-inflicted

The call by a veteran DAP politician that all parties should go multi-racial is definitely not practical and not in tune with reality.

Any party can pursue its own cause and chose its own means to attain its objectives as long as it acts and operates within the perimeters of the law and the norms of democracy.

In the case of PAS , the party wants to establish a system of government based on Islamic laws and practices, or alternatively to establish a welfare state for the betterment of Muslims and the nation.

However ideals and reality are two different things. Leaders may have the ideals but it is the people who live with reality. Hence a party should pursue its’ idealistic objectives within the environment of the real world .

In the May general election (GE) PAS’ unimpressive performance was below expectation compared to its’ two partners.

It grabbed only 21 parliamentary seats out of 73 seats contested. The big question within the party is what went wrong?

In any GE there are different expectations for the respective contesting parties. The road is simpler for those who expect victory and go on to win.

Others who expect victory but lose as in the case of PAS will have to do the ‘muhasabah’ – general and self appraisals of their mistakes and weaknesses.

What derailed PAS’ expected performance?

PAS is not realistic

The party, I believe failed on three counts:

i) Too idealistic

PAS struggle is more on the ideals of Islam and it overlooks real issues affecting the daily lives of all Malaysians.

PAS failed to present a practical comprehensive Islamic system of government. It could not provide proposals and solutions to tackle social, economic and national issues that are related to the community and society at large.

PAS should have presented a realistic comprehensive Islamic system that covers Islamic banking, finance, zakat, taxation and social issues such as poverty, crime, housing, employment, infrastructure and moral issues.

PAS should have come up with a proposal to revamp the role of Tabung Zakat and Baitumal to enhance the ummah’s economic position in terms of promoting redistribution of wealth, investment and savings.

The zakat tax of 2.5% yearly on all kinds of profits, incomes and assets (domestic and abroad) on the rich/well-to-do Muslims, if managed efficiently according to the syariah law could hit more than one billion ringgit per year.

ii) Lack of well-rounded leaders

The three great qualities of a leader are wisdom , intellectualism and learnedness.

These virtues cannot be acquired through academic knowledge alone, but rather through the experiences in life as one goes through its trials and tribulations.

Common sense (akal) is the foundation of wisdom. It leads to logical thinking thereby enhancing one’s reasoning power to enable him to attain the virtue of wisdom.

A wise man is one who understands an issue and makes the right decision.

Intellectualism comes from the on-going process of learning and understanding important matters making him an expertise in those fields.

A learned person has an in-depth knowledge of certain or various disciplines and is often consulted on these matters.

Leaders with these three virtues can lead the people and nation to greater heights. A cleric with academic religious knowledge, but without these virtues would not make a good leader.

Thus PAS failed to display well-rounded good leaders.

ii) Unable to distinguish between religious matters and issues

There is a difference between religious matters and issues. Religious matters are specific and relate to the Muslim community while religious issues affect the ummah and related national issues.

PAS failed to see the difference. It continued to harp on the hudud. Hudud is part of the syariah law. It is a religious matter not a issue.

Furthermore it is limited to acts of crime which many young people are less interested in.

PAS should not have used the hudud law to gain popularity.

The people want to see how PAS leaders can tackle real issues involving not just the ummah but also the non-Muslim section of Malaysian society.

But PAS dwells only on religious matters hence people lose confidence in the party and eventually regard it as not relevant to reality.

PAS cannot go alone

Having said this, there is also the common believe that PAS’s alliance with DAP was the cause of its poor performance in GE13.

Many are calling for the party to leave the Pakatan Rakyat partnership.

But judging by the GE13 voting trend PAS candidates received good support from non-Muslim voters meaning the latter had no problem with Islam.

However the Malays had hoped that PAS being a Malay and Muslim-based party could be the alternative to Umno, and lead the coalition the way Umno anchors BN.

But PAS failed to take that crucial role.

We may conclude that unlike PKR and DAP who received strong support from the voters of all races , the Malay voters’ confidence in PAS took a dip .

In this scenario, if PAS chooses to go it alone in the14th GE, it would be a disaster!

Awang Abdillah is a political analyst, writer and FMT columnist .