Asia-Pacific, Headlines

MALAYSIA: Islamic Party Doffs Robes Dons Shirt Sleeves

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 22 2005 (IPS) - Malaysia’s opposition Islamic party, which frightened the ruling, western-educated Muslim Malay class and foreign investors with hefty gains in the 1999 election but lost it all in last year’s polls, has embarked on a makeover of their formidable image in a fresh attempt to win support, especially from the nation’s non-Muslims.

Many leaders of the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) have quietly discarded the flowing Arabic robes and headgear they had previously worn with pride as symbols of Islamic purity, erudition and fundamentalism. Now they appear in simple shirts and trousers, like everybody else.

PAS leaders also refer less to the Quran when speaking at political rallies, preferring to sprinkle homely Malaysian maxims in their speeches.

More women are also joining PAS, founded in 1951, and contesting elections for the party. Although they are not winning, their participation and influence within the party, especially at the grassroots, is on the rise.

In northern Kelantan State, which PAS rules, authorities are easing strict Islamic codes of behaviour, allowing karaoke and billiard bars. Entertainment and dance, once rejected as “un- Islamic” are now permitted.

But the most significant change happened at the PAS general assembly earlier this month when younger, western educated leaders – collectively described as “liberals” – won elections and now dominate the party’s decision-making executive council.

Although hard line fundamentalist Abdul Hadi Awang was returned unopposed as PAS president, other posts were taken by the young Turks.

The biggest surprise of the day was the election of soft-spoken, likable Nasaruddin Mat Isa, 43, as deputy president. The losers were the clerics who had dominated PAS politics with their insistence on setting up an Islamic theocracy in Malaysia despite strong non-Muslim opposition.

Malaysia’s population of 25 million people is made up of about: 55 percent Malays, who are Muslims; 25 percent Chinese; 8 percent Indians and the rest indigenous peoples and “others”.

“The mood for change in PAS was overwhelming. The members wanted change and want new leaders who could change the party and make it more pro-active and expand the party’s influence,” Nasaruddin told IPS. “They want us to be the vanguard of the change.”

Many of the young leaders, including Nasaruddin and PAS Secretary General Kamaruddin Jaafar, are close to opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim and look to the former deputy prime minister for leadership and direction.

The newcomers are also committed to political pragmatism, most importantly working with non-Muslims and co-operating with opposition political parties that reject any role for religion in secular politics.

“Clearly PAS is undergoing a makeover,” academic and political analyst Murugesu Pathmanaban said in an interview. “It is a trend and PAS is trying hard to make itself less scary and more presentable to non-Muslims.”

“After last year’s polls drubbing they are easing up in preparation for the next election,” he added. It is due in 2008.

The revamp comes in the wake of 2004 electoral defeat, which saw PAS lose a state government and 21 parliamentary constituencies to the ruling National Front coalition led by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, the successor to long-serving Mahathir Mohamad.

PAS also lost its leadership of the opposition in parliament, a bitter pill for the party to swallow.

The key question is whether today’s changes, especially the emergence of a new crop of liberal leaders in PAS, are deep-seated and indicate an ideological shift or are just cosmetic changes to make the party “more marketable to Malaysia’s silent majority of pragmatic and moderate voters,” as U.S. academic Bridget Welsh put it..

Welsh, a Johns Hopkins University assistant professor, writing soon after the PAS leadership changes, says that the 2004 Indonesian elections, especially the success of the Peoples Welfare Party (PKS), had a deep impact on PAS leaders and members in Malaysia.

“The PKS slate of clean local candidates of all races and religions and (its) step-back from the imposition of Islamic law increased its support eight-fold in the April 2004 legislative elections,” Welsh wrote.

“The interaction between PAS and PKS, which has become increasingly robust over the last few years, has served to reinforce the need for pragmatic leadership particularly among (clerics) and underscored a shift in emphasis away from Shariah law to a broader as yet unclarified idea of Islamic governance,” she added.

A second key factor is Ibrahim, whose release from six years in prison last September has re-energized the opposition Alternative Front. Both PAS and the Chinese-majority opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP), which do not see eye to eye, have asked the charismatic Anwar to lead the opposition.

Also, “it is widely speculated that PAS has asked Anwar to head the party and lead it to power in the next or subsequent general election,” an academic told IPS. “It is no secret that top PAS leaders visited Anwar overseas and made the offer.”

After his release the former prime minister in waiting spent several months in Europe, the United States and the Middle East before returning to Malaysia earlier this year.

Anwar has advised PAS to back away from its demand for an Islamic state and Shariah law in order to win non-Malay support.

“PAS sees Anwar as their one sure ticket to win power . only Anwar can bridge the divide between Muslim desire for more Islam in politics and non-Muslim fears of political Islam,” added the academic, who declined to be named.

Most Malaysian commentators say the structural changes in PAS, although significant, do not signal a fundamental shift in party ideology outside of an “apparent greater openness to dialogue”.

“There is nothing new about the ‘new’ PAS leaders,” a veteran journalist working at a government controlled media told IPS. “The new leaders that everybody is hailing as liberals are the same guys, who declared ‘jihad’ against the West, supported the Taliban and send their sons to fight in Afghanistan.”

“They are astute politicians who have taken a step back and pretend to be moderates,” the journalist added, echoing the sentiments of the ruling National Front government.

“The conservative core of PAS that is the clerics who rule the Malay mind in the rural villages remains intact,” said the journalist. “It is not easy to overcome the intemperate and intolerant track record.”

Despite the leadership changes and easing of strict behavioural rules, PAS faces an uphill task convincing non-Muslims to support them.

“We welcome the leadership changes and look forward to dialogue but as of now we are not convinced,” said Lim Guan Eng, secretary general of the DAP. “The mistrust about PAS runs very deep among non-Muslims and there are good reasons for it.”

One change that might convince the DAP and other non-Muslim Malaysians of PAS’ new colours is if the party abolishes the many Shariah laws – such as fines for adultery – it has enacted in Kelantan.

How do the now powerful PAS “liberals” feel about implementation of the Shariah? How clear will their stand be? And how far would they go to appease non-Muslims on Shariah laws without fear of alienating their hardcore supporters?

It would be a tight balancing act, analysts said, adding that any false move would erase their influence and return the clerics to power.

To date PAS policies have alienated nearly every one of the many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Malaysia championing human rights and democracy. While small and scattered in their reach, the NGOs have leadership talents and intellectual capacity that an opposition party might tap.

“We only see deep, entrenched conservatism in the party,” said an NGO leader close to PAS leaders but unsympathetic to the party’s policies. “PAS has to demonstrate tolerance and willingness to engage in a dialogue and not issue ‘fatwa’ (rulings on current issues) as it thinks fit.”

Wait and see, says Nasaruddin.

“The mood for change in PAS was overwhelming. The members wanted change and want new leaders who could change the party and make it more pro-active and expand the party’s influence,” he said. “They want us to be the vanguard of the change.”