PAS, Are You IN as a Team Player or Not? Otherwise, Get OUT !

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faux PAS @ bagan pinang

by

Art Harun

Excerpts:

PAS made a PROMISE by joining the PR and its election manifesto. This is admitted even by YB Khalid Samad, a PAS stalwart himself.

However, there are people WITHIN that party who have deliberately gone AGAINST that very promise. The radical and "fundamentalistic" stance taken by PAS in recent times have served ammunition to the BN, particularly UMNO.

The non-Muslim voters are of course wary of PAS' pragmatist approach towards the country's socio-political landscape.

And not without substantial reasons too.The beer issue in Shah Alam. The Michael Learns To Rock issue after that. Then recently, the Beyonce concert issue.

Then we have Hassan Ali establishing a moral police force with the power to arrest in Shah Alam. He then even questioned the Selcat, which was a state legislative machinery established by the Pakatan Rakyat government itself! These are but instances where PAS had opened its mouth wide to show its fangs to the absolute horror of the non-Muslims - and Muslims alike - in this country.

Added to that, the not too discreet "khalwat" between PAS and UMNO under the pretext of a "unity government" is a bitter dish which has to be swallowed by thousands, if not millions, of voters who had voted for PAS in the belief and trust that PAS was a permanent part of a coalition which was going to oppose the BN and UMNO, not to work with them.

The result of all these self defeatist posturing by PAS is there for all of us to see.

1. The non-Malays have shunned PAS in Bagan Pinang.
   
   
2. The Malays themselves, have not really warmed up to PAS save for some hardcore PAS members in the area.
   
   
3. The fence-seaters jumped to the BN side of the fence.

It was nothing short of a debacle.

• So what is what in PAS? Which is which?
  
  
• What does PAS stand for?
  
  
• What is PAS fighting for? What?

Those are the questions which the PAS has to answer. Those are the questions which the PR has to answer too if it has serious ambition of ruling this country.

Added to that the PR must also deal with the theatrics of MPs like Zulkifli Noordin, who have proven time and time again, to be a trigger happy lone ranger on a rampage.

The people expect the PR to settle all these issues once and for all. Lest political boredom would set in and the people might get numbed and go into a deep political slumber of the 70s, 80s and 90s .

The PR could then kiss its ambition a long goodbye.

In Bagan Pinang, sources from within the PR told me that PAS was almost going it alone. From the start PAS had disagreed with the choice of the candidate.

The advice by the MP for Teluk Kemang, PKR's Datuk Kamarul Baharin Abbas that a local boy should be fielded was NOT followed by PAS.

During the campaign period, the focus of PAS machinery was to discredit Tan Sri Isa by, among others, reminding the people of what he did in UMNO and highlighting the projects which he had apparently abandoned when he was the Menteri Besar. That obviously did not work. Hence the seemingly chaotic and unfocussed campaigns run by PAS.

The only momentum gained by PAS was when Tok Guru Nik Aziz and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim came to town. PAS should really look at itself in the mirror why these two persons are really liked by the crowd. Is it any wonder why?

The spiritual leader of PAS is well liked by all and sundry, Muslims and non-Muslims because he makes sense all the time. So is the case with DSAI.

If PAS could stick to the PR's agenda, all the time, surely it would win the crowd ALL the time. However, sadly, that is not the case.

It is obvious that an opposition coalition is a viable alternative to the BN.

The 2008 momentum must be maintained if ever the BN is going to be shaken off its pedestal and if the country wanted to see a 2 party system at work. However, the political blueprint of the coalition must be prepared and agreed upon by all the players.

It is time that the PR sit down together and solve the differences of ideologies within its organisation. A common stand on fundamental issues must be agreed upon. There must also be an irrevocable undertaking by the players to conform at all time with the blueprint as and when it is ready.

Any players, individual or in group, who deliberately go astray should be dealt with promptly, and severely.

Once and for all, PAS, DAP and PKR must be asked, "Are you with the PR or not?"

If so, you are in. If not, well, you are out.

Otherwise, Bagan Pinang could be the start of the demise of the Pakatan Rakyat.
-Art Harun

COMMENTARY

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Kekalahan PAS adalah kesalahan PAS sendiri

PAS mengalami kekalahan yang sungguh teruk iaitu 5435 majoriti. Sedangkan pada PRU-12 yang lalu PAS kalah hanya dengan majoriti 2333.

Apakah sebenarnya yang dapat kita lihat melalui keputusan tersebut?

Ramai yang memperkatakan tentang undi Post.Itu tidak dapat dinafikan.Tetapi kekalahan PAS di keseluruhan tempat awam di ladang-ladang memerlukan analisa yang lebih teliti.

BN berjaya menebus ketewasannya di tiga daripada lapan daerah mengundi pada Mac tahun lalu: Ladang Atherton, Pekan Siliau dan Sua Betong. Ketiga-tiga kawasan ini didominasi pengundi bukan Melayu. Apakah kini pengundi bukan Melayu sudah menolak PAS?

Dalam pilihan raya umum sebelum ini, sokongan India dan Cina diperoleh daripada isu kebajikan. PAS perlu melihat sejauh manakah peranan kebajikan dan khidmat masyarakat mereka terhadap golongan tersebut terutamanya di estet-estet.

PAS terlalu menumpukan kepada isu rasuah dan integriti sehingga menenggelamkan isu kebajikan - yang pernah dianggap berjaya meraih perhatian pengundi bukan Melayu.

Isu rasuah tidak pernah memberikan apa-apa impak. Semakin kuat seseorang itu melakukan rasuah, semakin popular jadinya dan seterusnya meraih sokongan untuk menang.Kemenangan calon Umno-BN Isa Samad di Bagan Pinang bermakna kemenangan untuk rasuah dan penyelewengan.

Ada juga yang mengatakan pengundi bukan Melayu di Bagan Pinang menolak PAS kerana tidak berpuas hati terhadap beberapa kenyataan pemimpin PAS di Selangor.

Isu-isu kontroversi seperti penjualan arak , isu kepala lembu dan Selcat di Selangor sedikit sebanyak memberikan kesan negatif kepada pengundi-pengundi bukan Melayu kali ini.

Kekalahan PAS adalah kesalahan PAS sendiri yang semakin hilang fokus terhadap polisi PAS untuk Semua.