I refer to the Malaysiakini report Umno 'opportunists' causing friction in PAS.

PAS’ Nik Aziz Nik Mat is indeed wise to reject any cooperation with Umno. He said, ‘one does not get bitten by the same snake from the same hole twice’.

Aside from the fact that one should be talking about national unity for the sake of the country rather than the narrow view of Malay unity, such a cooperation can only result in a serious political whipping for PAS and Umno.

First of all, what is Malay unity? In the political context, Malay unity can only mean unity in voting.

To put it succinctly, this means PAS and Umno entering into an alliance to unite the Malay voters or by extension, PAS being admitted into Barisan Nasional.

How seductive this concept of Malay unity must be for the political strategists. With PAS and Umno gathering the majority of the Malay votes, BN would be invincible.

As the Malays themselves are more than all the other races put together, this will mean that the minorities votes do not matter except for a few Chinese majority seats which can be sacrificed.

Of course for this to work, we assume that the PAS vote bank will add to Umno’s vote bank. But will this be the case? I believe not.

PAS and Umno have only a few common grounds beyond the fact they are racially homogeneous. One party is based on spiritualism while the other is based on materialism.

PAS’ philosophy is based on upright conduct while Umno’s culture is deeply rooted in corruption.

Rightly or wrongly, PAS’ admission into BN will generate the perception that PAS has concluded an agreement with Umno to project their Islamic agenda at the federal level.

Many moderate Malays prefer a secular state to practice their faith and many Muslim women disdain PAS’ parochial attitude to women. How many of them will vote for Umno if an Islamic state is on the cards?

Many PAS loyalists who support PAS based on the party’s Islamic credentials will think twice about voting for a PAS-Umno coalition as they consider Umno corrupt and un-Islamic.

As their ideologies and culture do not intersect much, many Malays who would vote for either PAS or Umno will desert a coalition of both.

Hence the expectation that PAS and Umno will augment each other’s vote bank is illusory. The likelihood is that both their vote banks will be decimated.

Meanwhile the non-Malays will vote massively for Pakatan Rakyat (minus PAS). With the stakes that high, there is no other way they will vote. The East Malaysian states which hold a disproportionate share of seats may also be lost.

With the Malay vote split and the non-Malays swinging overwhelmingly to the opposition, Pakatan Rakyat may romp home to a 2/3rds majority.

How ironic that an alliance which is supposed to seal BN’s hegemony results in its defeat.

As for PAS, I have this bit of advice. Hang on to your Islamic idealism though it cannot be implemented now in a multi-racial Malaysia. It may take a few more generations until demography and thinking changes to accommodate your vision. Any attempt to short-cut the process will only result in grave setbacks.

For the moment, the best bet for PAS is to stay in Pakatan Rakyat and keep their Islamic agenda low.