Form think-tank on welfare state, mufti tells PAS
Perlis mufti Dr Juanda Jaya has proposed that PAS form a steering committee or a think-tank group to officially formulate the concept of a welfare state.
Perlis mufti Dr Juanda Jaya has proposed that PAS form a steering committee or a think-tank group to officially formulate the concept of a welfare state.
Juanda (
left
) said this would help attract the people to the PAS agenda.
“More importantly it could also attract fence sitters, non-partisan professional Muslims and non-Muslims to be attracted to the PAS agenda,” he said.
“I propose that the committee or think-tank to work on the blueprint be made up of professionals, independent-thinking ulama and politicians.”
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, at the conclusion of the recent muktamar, had alluded to the concept of a welfare state where the welfare of the people is prioritised.
“The time has not come to (abandon the quest for an Islamic state). But we don’t want to just call the country an Islamic state without implementing the principles, there is no point in that. In fact, the term in the Quran is ‘welfare state’, nowhere does it say Islamic state,” Hadi had told reporters at the party’s 47th annual assembly, the muktamar.
PAS had strongly advocated the Islamic state concept in 2004, but following its pact with the Pakatan Rakyat, the party has rebranded this to ‘welfare state’. The matter is still considered a bone of contention between PAS and DAP.
Hadi had said the terms ‘Islamic state’ and ‘welfare state’ refer to the same thing.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is in Kazakhstan, in commenting on the issue yesterday said PAS’ purported calls to create a welfare state was nothing new as Umno and the BN had always pushed for it all this while.
Najib had said Umno’s and the BN’struggle all this while had fulfilled the elements of a welfare state such as in the fields of education, health, food subsidy and fuel which have been enjoyed by the rakyat for a long time.
“The change in the PAS tagline slogan is no longer to create an Islamic state but a welfare state, which is nothing new but merely giving it a new label,” Najib said at a media conference with Malaysian journalists in Kazakhstan yesterday.
