PAS Selangor at a crossroads?

Hasan has repeatedly clashed with his Pakatan Rakyat partners. — File pic

By Neville Spykerman

SHAH ALAM, Dec 23 — PAS may end up the biggest losers in Selangor come the next general elections.

The Islamic party, which won eight out of the 56 state seats in Election 2008, in mostly urban or semi-urban constituencies, stands to lose the support of non-Muslims who make up between 20 and 40 per of voters in these constituencies, according to its own ground reports.

PAS contested a further 12 seats in predominantly rural Malay majority constituencies but lost all of them to Umno.

A PAS state lawmaker, who did not want to be named, told The Malaysian Insider that the support the party received from non-Muslims is dissipating.

“I don’t even know if I can retain my own seat in the next general elections.

“I’m on the ground, we meet the non-Malays and know they are not happy,” he said, adding that their main grouse is against the state Pas leadership, which has invited one controversy after another.

Earlier this year, PAS Commissioner Datuk Dr Hasan Ali proposed a beer ban for Muslim-majority areas and moved to empower mosques officials to arrest Muslims caught drinking.

Although PAS attempted to explain that the proposals, which were eventually not implemented, would only affect Muslims, it triggered uneasiness among non-Muslims and created the perception that the party was pushing a hard-line Islamic agenda.

Non-muslims make up 47 per cent of Selangor ‘s population.

Worse still, Hasan has repeatedly clashed with his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners.

He made an open challenge in the media calling for his State Executive colleague, Ronnie Liu, to resign for allegedly ordering the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) to return beer seized illegally from a 7-Eleven outlet.

More recently he caused another stir by undermining the authority of the special select committee for competency, accountability and transparency (Selcat) which was investigating abuse of state funds by former Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers just before the general elections last year.

Hasan accused Speaker Teng Chang Khim, who heads the state government watchdog, of bullying civil servants during a public inquiry into the misuse of funds.

“I think we are going to be in trouble if there is no change in direction or in the state leadership,” said the Pas lawmaker.

Ibrahim Suffian from the Merdeka Center for Independent Research who spoke to The Malaysian Insider did not, however, completely share the lawmaker’s pessimism.

“Overall PAS is gaining more support from non-Muslims, more so now after last week’s PR Convention when they reiterated their stand with the coalition.”

Before the March 8 general elections, non-Malay sentiment was to vote for any party which was not in the ruling BN coalition including PAS despite the reservations they might have had about the Islamic party.

In subsequent by-elections, Chinese and Indians, especially in Perak, willingly voted for PAS.

However, in Selangor, he could not discount the negative publicity generated by Pas Selangor including forcing their values on non-Muslims.

“Their urban seats could be in jeopardy.”

Whether Selangor PAS continues to clash with their PR partners and alienate non-Muslims could depend on the party’s disciplinary committee.

Hasan, along with his one-time deputy, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, who has openly criticised the former’s policies have been hauled up before the committee for “jeopardizing the party’s image.”

Both men have responded to show-cause letters and the disciplinary committee is expected to decide on the next course of action today.

The committee could decide there is no case to answer, which would lead to status quo in the state leadership, or opt to suspend or remove Hasan as state commissioner, but this is unlikely because of his close links to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who appointed him in the first place.

The most likely outcome could be a face-saving slap on the wrist for either Hasan or for both men.

Fear of superior BN machinery caused third vote rejection

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) officials had raised concerns that even Kota Baru in the PAS stronghold state of Kelantan could fall into the hands of Barisan Nasional (BN) if local council elections were restored.

These concerns caused PR to water down its commitment to restore local council elections should the fledgling coalition take federal power.

PR officials from DAP, PAS and PKR who spoke to The Malaysian Insider confirmed the coalition's technical committee, responsible for putting together its common platform, had grappled at length with the issue amid fears that the BN machinery, which they considered far superior to that of PR’s, would grab the lion's share of local council seats.

And in doing so, it was felt that BN could cause problems even for the administration of PR-held states.

These "tactical considerations" were understood to have been brought up by PAS.

"In terms of resources, certain quarters fear that they will not be able to compete with the BN machinery and major cities within PR-controlled states," said one senior PR leader.

"One of the major concerns raised during PR's secretariat meeting on this issue is that Kota Baru will fall into BN hands," he added.

The fall of Kota Baru — the administrative capital of PAS-ruled Kelantan — into their political rivals' hands would be disastrous for the party, it was argued.

Another senior leader from PKR concurred with this tactical view, saying that in Selangor itself the pact faced various technical problems pertaining to the third vote.

"In principle I will tell you that nobody in PR disagrees with the view that the third vote should be implemented."

The senior leader explained that there was a pervasive fear that BN would have the upper hand should the third vote be restored, given their superior resources and also the fact that civil servants within local councils "are tied to the BN-led federal government".

Another problem PR is facing, said the PKR leader, is with how the municipalities are carved out.

PR-led state governments are losing out to the BN-led federal government in terms of cash and while maintaining municipalities should be done by local councils, the federal government is also pouring in money into them in a bid to woo voters.

"So our supporters on the ground feel that we often lose out to BN. While we struggle to maintain the big municipalities with our limited resources, they can easily pour in cash," said the leader.