Having read the report on how PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali was snubbed by none other than the spiritual leader of PAS Nik Aziz, on the grounds that the former is alleged to be of a 'socialist' and 'insufficiently-Islamic' background, one can only fall into a state of utter despair.

As if the opposition BA alliance was not having to cope with enough problems, lack of access to the mainstream media and hardly given enough time to mount an effective political campaign, this move was akin to adding salt to the wound.

The mind boggles when considering the rationale behind the snub: to claim that an individual is unsuited for standing for public office on the grounds that his or her background is 'not Islamic enough' begs the question: who is setting the criteria and on what grounds and whose authority?

To then add to this the stinging aside that Kelantanese voters would prefer a local candidate smacks of parochialism of the highest order. (Incidentally, the PAS MP Mat Sabu has run in Kelantan as well in the past, though few have cared to point out the fact that he too is not a local boy.)

It is also an insult to the Kelantanese, as if they could not discriminate between a candidate with merit and talent and a local boy whom they would prefer simply because he came from their neck of the woods!

'Kampung' mindset

The image that has been constructed paints the entire population of Kelantanese as the Malay equivalent of country yokels or hilly-billies, stuck in the morass of their own 'kampung' mindset.

Having conducted fieldwork in Kelantan for years, I know that the reality on the ground simply does not correspond to this picture. There are two points that I believe need to be raised here, urgently: firstly, as I have pointed out before in some of my articles, PAS, too had a 'red past' of its own to contend with. Between 1956 to 1970 PAS was under the leadership of Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy, the Aligarh-educated progressive Islamist whose progressive Islam was based on Islamic principles of universalism and who saw the necessity to work with leftist elements in the country.

PAS then was allied to other left-leaning parties like the Parti Rakyat (under Ahmad Boestaman, another progressive Malay leftist) and even showed sympathy for the banned MCP (Malayan Communist Party).PAS's leaders turned to men like Gammel Abdel Nasser and Sukarno as models to emulate, and saw countries like Egypt and Indonesia as shining examples of Muslim nations that were democratic, pluralist and progressive.

Dr Burhanuddin was, without doubt, the most enlightened, humane and just Malay-Muslim leader this country has ever produced, and it is a national tragedy that his early death was accelerated thanks to his period of detention under the ISA. Even so, PAS then saw that winning political power in a plural society like Malaysia's would require the formation of instrumental alliances with other parties of other ideological streams - their main objective being the fight against British colonial rule and the post-colonial regime that came in its wake.

Not once throughout his political career did Dr Burhanuddin question, belittle or undermine the Islamic credentials and beliefs of others, including his opponents in Umno. Right up to his death he was a statesman and gentleman, despite the fact that the treatment he received was well below the belt and unbecoming of his foes. He never compromised on his humane principles and sense of universal fairplay; never resorted to the use of esoteric religious terminology to beguile the masses (even though he was an accomplished Islamic scholar himself); never made spurious promises of heavenly reward, or adopt the despicable practice of takfir (to accuse other Muslims of being kafirs or less than Muslim) to get his way.

Realities of plural Malaysia

Which brings me to my next point: PAS today has to think BIG. It is a party that is poised to play a major role on the theatre of national politics. Its appeal now cuts beyond the rural heartland and runs across the entire spectrum of Malaysian society.

But for PAS to live up to its intended role it has to be sensitive and cognisant of the realities of plural Malaysia as well. Malaysia is not made up of Malay-Muslims from Kelantan solely. It happens to be made up of other races, linguistic and religious groups, various class constituencies and gender communities.

No party in Malaysia can possibly hope to encompass the entirety of Malaysia's plural landscape, which is why they need to form alliances with others that may bridge these gaps, and in so doing bring society closer together under a singular inclusive vision. There is a term for this: hegemony.

However , thus far it is the BN that has managed to secure for itself hegemonic victory for its plural composition allows it to cut across different racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious divides.

The irony is that the divisions in Malaysia are also being artificially sustained by the BN parties and their ideologies themselves! The BA coalition, if it is to secure a lasting victory, has to learn the lessons of hegemony and recognise the necessity of compromise.

There will always be many Malaysians who do not and will not accept PAS's vision of the future, but will be prepared to tolerate PAS if it was to share power with other parties such as the PKR and DAP. PAS needs to understand, therefore, that it cannot afford to go it alone and make unilateral decisions or pass unilateral judgements like it has done in the case of its treatment of Syed Husin Ali.

For the sake of the future and the defence of Malaysia's plural democratic character, the opposition parties need to internalise these values rather than pay lip service to them, purely for the sake of short-term gains.

For the sake of us all, don't blow your chances in the name of political expediency.

Dr FARISH A NOOR is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist. His 'The Other Malaysia' column appears in malaysiakini .