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By Agence France-Presse
KOTA BHARU, Malaysia: Malaysia’s Islamic party
made huge strides in weekend elections, by putting on a moderate
face and dropping fundamentalist rhetoric that had alienated voters,
analysts said Sunday.
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) made a
remarkable recovery after 2004 polls when its calls for an Islamic
state to be imposed in the multicultural country were soundly
rejected by Muslim Malays and minorities alike.
The conservative party of Muslim scholars
absorbed that painful lesson, shifting away from its
fire-and-brimstone rhetoric and even reaching out to Malaysia’s
ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
It was rewarded with a big win in its heartland
of Kelantan state which it had held by a slim majority, and is
expected to join coalitions to rule three of the four states wrested
from the mighty Barisan Nasional coalition.
It also claimed 23 seats in the national
parliament, from just six before.
“There was a big shift in PAS’s attitude by
dropping any mention of plans to set up an Islamic state,” said
political analyst Shahruddin Badaruddin.
“Instead it concentrated on the idea of a
compassionate and welfare-like state,” he told AFP.
While the Barisan Nasional (BN) dangled billions
of dollars in development projects for the impoverished Malay
heartlands, PAS offered its brand of pious values and sedate
economic growth.
Kelantan Chief Minister Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat
hailed the “tsunami” of electoral support for the party in a
victory speech that reflected its inclusive new approach.
“The people who are not Muslim, the Chinese,
the Indians and (other minorities) now clearly accept our Islamic
governance despite attempts by the BN’s throwing of money and
promises of development,” he said.
PAS’s last big gains were in 1999 when it
captured northern Terengganu state, leading it to believe Malaysians
were willing to accept a hardline Islamic government, Shahruddin
said.
But its tough line, including prohibitions on
nightclubs, skimpy clothes and alcohol, coupled with excitement over
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s new administration, saw it
lose Terengganu in 2004.
“The new PAS agenda was more appealing and the
Malay heartland agreed that basic economic issues had yet to be
addressed by the BN regardless of promised development projects,”
Shahruddin said.
“As a result, there was a coming together of
forces in the various states as the Malay swing against the
government coincided with big swings in the Chinese and Indian
communities, something which has never happened before.”
Political analyst Tricia Yeoh Center said
PAS’s greater acceptance of minorities was key to its success.
“This signalled their need for support from
non-Muslim voters who did not disappoint them, and backed what is an
essentially Islamic government,” said Yeoh, from the Center for
Public Policy Studies thinktank.
Chinese and Indians living in Kelantan, which
PAS has ruled for 18 years, mostly have few complaints and say they
are free to practice their religions and cultural traditions.
Shahruddin says the challenge is now for PAS to
find a viable arrangement with the Chinese-based Democratic Action
Party (DAP) with which it must work to control some of the newly
transferred state parliaments.
“Being the party of Islamic scholars, PAS will
now have to tread a much more moderate line in ensuring that they
can form a coalition with the DAP,” he said.
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