I do not wish to offend any Muslims but in my view, the failure of Umno and the judicial system drove many Muslims to PAS and its syariah laws which attract by virtue of its simplicity.

When people are faced with daunting complex problems, they seek simple answers. This was the case for Europeans and Chinese after the devastation of World War I and the collapse of the monarchy/imperial systems. The fact of the matter is that PAS delivers a simple message — believe in god and everything else will be taken care of. Append this message with good organisation and the parallel with communism is quite clear.

PAS' popularity is in large part, little to do with the merits of its systems and ideologies. It is not that Islamic systems have no merits but the fact is the promise is far more attractive than what they can deliver. Few political and economic ideologies can deliver what they promise, even democracy and capitalism.

However, while democracy and capitalism do not claim to solve all ills or are perfect, ideologies preached by communists and PAS promise all and deny any imperfecion. If something looks too good, it probably is.

The fact of the matter is that most people who support PAS have little clue what it is they are getting themselves into. PAS preaches the glory and success of Islam in the past which to me is like saying well, the Mongolians were the biggest and most successful empire in the world so why don't we all go back to living like Nomads and raid neighbouring countries?

The fact of the matter is, we do not have the complete picture of the success of Islam's past. It could be due to a combination of events like changes in transportation and trade routes, the failure of feudalism in Europe, etc. To what degree Islamic principles are applicable to successful states, is not proven.

Intellectually, what we know today is that a militaristic, monoreligion dominated system does not work especially in multicultural societies.

In short, PAS' success is a result of Umno's failure and has nothing to do with the merits of what the Muslim party can deliver.