Dipetik dari : The Malaysia Insider
PAS seminar was indictment of itself
By Baradan Kuppusamy
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 – If anything, the special PAS seminar on Saturday convened to debate the “Malay unity” government thing ended up, instead, as an indictment of the party as a whole.
Both hardline and progressive factions had a shock after two invited academics told the congregation that the issue is not who leads the party but that the party itself is rapidly losing ground among non-Malays and especially among the younger generation of all races.
About two million youths are potential new voters in the next general election, and many are excited by the party’s slogan of “PAS for All”.
But, they are now seeing the darker and more sinister side of PAS.
Where, before, they saw PAS as a leader of change and welcomed its moderate stance and inclusive policies, that view has changed dramatically into a rejection of PAS, a survey shows. They now see PAS as backward, trapped in a theocratic past and unwilling to transform its self in order to transform the nation.
The perception of PAS as problematic and trapped in the past especially among the younger generation was supported by a survey conducted by University Malaya academic Dr Abu Hassan Hasbullah, who spoke about his findings at the seminar.
Among the younger generation, the survey said, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang fared the poorest. In fact he had little standing or respect from the 20 to 30 age group. Some party leaders like Vice-president Mohamad Sabu and former Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Nizar Jamaluddin were more popular then Abdul Hadi or his deputy Nasaruddin Mat Isa.
The survey showed nearly 90 per cent in the 20-30 age group had lost faith in the current PAS leadership as a whole while among the 31-40 age group nearly 75 per cent felt that the party is regressing under Abdul Hadi. Respondents aged 50 and over however viewed the PAS leadership positively - this is the group that grew up under the “fire and brimstone” lectures that Abdul Hadi is famous for.
The survey covered 2,100 respondents divided into three age groups. Worse for PAS, the Dr Abu Hassan findings indicate that most of the erosion in positive perception was happening in the Malay heartland states of Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis, where PAS’s presence had been traditionally strong.
And surprisingly, too, most of the positive comments came from Sabah and Sarawak, states that have not experienced direct rule by PAS. The seminar was called, ironically, to appease party spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who had demanded an EGM to allow delegates to oust party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and other luminaries labelled as “pro Umno” for wanting Malay unity. But it ended up as an indictment of the party itself.
The question is whether PAS can lead the transformation of the country and the answer from both Aziz Bari and Dr Abu Hassan is that PAS has to transform itself first before it can transform the nation. Without spelling it out, both men were pessimistic about whether PAS can transform itself in major ways to lead a multi-ethnic and secular society.
Observers were also pessimistic because power in the party is not passing over from the “hell and brimstone” leaders like Abdul Hadi to younger, more inclusive, leaders who can bridge the cultural, racial and religious gap.
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