COMMENT The recent hudud impasse seems to have taken everyone by surprise as it appears to have come from nowhere.

NONE I believe it was an orchestration made by the same man who broke the Barisan Alternatif not too long ago. That's right. His name is Dr Mahathir Mohamad, our former prime minister.

Mimicking his famous 2001 speech at the PWTC where he exhibited a printout copy of Abdul Hadi Awang's ( left) interview with Malaysiakini . In the interview, Hadi explicitly emphasised PAS's commitment to the Islamic state agenda.

The move managed to shake DAP's faith in the Barisan Alternatif. What followed was DAP formally taking leave from Barisan Alternatif though it continued to exist formally until the 2008 election.

Mahathir thought he can repeat the same feat with the 'hudud issue' except this time the outcome has been completely the opposite.

Dealing with a different force

This time, the call for hudud comes from a completely different source than back in 2001. This time it is from PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Back in 2001, Hadi was already a figure distrusted and despised by the Chinese and Indian electorate. The bulldozing of the hudud Bill in Terengganu successfully alienated the majority of the non-Malay constituents.

Hadi never used the small opening right after the 1999 elections to build a bridge of trust with the non-Malay constituent.

I remember soon after the results of the polls were announced, my non-Malay friends were excited by some of the immediate measures taken by the new Terengganu state government vis-à-vis the doing away of toll on the Sultan Mahmud bridge and abolishing quit rent.

Unfortunately, it stopped there.

Instead, he chose to do exactly the opposite and remained mum on issues related to the sensitivity of the Chinese constituents i.e. the Umno protest against Suqui, a body representing 2,095 Chinese organisations in 1999.

He pushed through the hudud Bill despite complete rejection by the non-Muslim constituents throughout Malaysia. The demise of Fadzil Nor, the PAS president then, only aggravated the serious deficiency of non-Malay support for PAS.

Fadzil was the only leader in PAS who had won a significant level of trust among non-Malays. His sad passing ended any hope of support from that section of society for PAS.

Unlike the menteri besar of Kelantan, Nik Abdul Aziz. Since 2008, the Tok Guru has been consistently allying himself with the non-Malay constituency against a consistent barrage of Umno racial and religious provocations.

Among the examples off the top of my head are:

  • Tok Guru vehemently rejecting cooperation between Umno and PAS in the name of 'Malay Unity' in complete contradiction with fellow PAS leaders like Hadi and the Terengganu faction. His main argument, among others, was that such a move would betray the trust given to PAS by the non-Malay electorate;
  • He rejected Umno's provocation related to the 'cow head' incident. He sided with the Hindus in Seksyen 18 Shah Alam to move their temple close to their homes;
  • Nik Abdul Aziz was for DAP leader and Selangor state exco member Teresa Kok when she was unjustly arrested on trumped-up charges of trying to stop the azan in Kinrara and Kota Damansara. A recent Wikileaks expose quoted an Umno MP (Nur Jazlan Mohamed) as saying that the ISA arrests were motivated more by attempts to prevent BN MPs from jumping rather than anything else;
  • He sided with DAP's Serdang MP Teo Nie Cheng and a few DAP leaders who were mocked by the Umno-owned media for their "sins' of entering mosques. Tok Guru insisted that such an act is not against the teachings of Islam. Teo made a "pilgrimage" to meet Tok Guru in person to thank him.
  • The tok guru sided with the plight of PKR leader and another Selangor state excom member Elizabeth Wong when she was embarrassed by the media.
  • He was for the Christians when harassed by the authorities over their right to use the word "Allah" in their worship.

In short, every time Umno tries to fan racial or religious sentiment in their political interest, Tok Guru was there to "rescue" the Chinese and Indians.

pas muktamar 130610 nik abdul aziz 4 These series of gestures have managed to boost Nik Abdul Aziz's ( right ) level of trust among non-Malays.

Therefore, when Tok Guru uttered the "H" (hudud) word and promised that it won't apply to "non-Muslims", the negative response from Chinese and Indian electorates appeared to be negligible.

MCA was banking on this issue to gain relevance but until today the effects still remain negligible. The Pakatan Rakyat is still intact and the controversy has dropped from media discussion.

Hudud unacceptable to non-Muslims

PAS should always remind themselves that the minimal rejection of hudud in the recent controversy is not a sign of acceptance.

Rather, it's a more of "conditional tolerance" from the non-Malay constituents. Since they believe in Tok Guru Nik Aziz, they believe in his promises as well.

PAS should not deceive itself into thinking that they have decided to support hudud. Instead, PAS should take the recent controversy as a valuable lesson.

Personally, it's a very valuable lesson for myself on the Chinese psyche. Consistency is paramount if you want to win their hearts and minds. If you are an opportunist, you can never be secure with the Chinese voter.

And Nik Abdul Aziz won the "hudud" gamble because he is consistent. He defended the rights of non-Muslims and fended off all manner of Umno provocation in the name of Islam.

When he made his case for hudud in the name of Islam, he managed to gain the trust of the Chinese and Indian electorate.

 

ABDUL RAHMAN ABDUL TALIB is a blogger and an engineer with a passion for politics. He can be contacted at cabearth4@yahoo.com