INTERVIEW The outcome of next month’s PAS leadership elections may have an undesired impact on Umno's branch of politics, a former leader from the ruling party warns.

Former Umno supreme council member Saifuddin Abdullah cautioned that Umno may veer further to the right if Islamist hardliners win in the PAS muktamar in June.

"(If hardliners win in the muktamar) they may invite, indirectly, Umno to also go to the right," Saifuddin said in an interview at the Malaysiakini office in Petaling Jaya last Thursday.

Several moderate, pro-Pakatan leaders of PAS, including former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, have already been defeated by ulama candidates in the party's divisional elections.

Analysts have told Malaysiakini that the pro-Pakatan faction may take a further beating during the muktamar.

Meanwhile, Umno has become increasingly right wing after BN's reduced majority in the 13th general election.

The party successfully pressured its president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to make a U-turn on his pledge to repeal the Sedition Act - which has since been amended in Parliament and made to become more stringent.

Moderates won't be taken seriously

Umno’s Kelantan arm also voted in favour of PAS Kelantan's hudud bill, and most recently, several members from Petaling Jaya protested against a church for putting up a cross on its external wall.

Besides encouraging right-wing politics, Saifuddin said, victory for hardliners in PAS, or even in Umno or PKR, would also make it more difficult for moderate Muslim voices to be heard internationally.

 

"(The international community) will say, 'Well, yeah you (moderates) are OK in voicing up issues, but you seem to be very lonely and not even accepted by your own party' and that doesn't help," Saifuddin said.

As such, the former deputy higher education minister said, it would be better if PAS is able to strike a balance of power between the hardliners and moderates.

"I think it is for the betterment of all that the Islamist democrats in PAS are given a prominent role in their election, likewise is Umno, PKR and also, parties in Morocco, Indonesia (and so on).

"It would be a good thing for the Muslim ummah, as a whole in particular, but also for international relations and for a more sustainable (world) peace," he said.

Saifuddin leads the Global Movement of Moderates, a world peace initiative mooted by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in his address at the 2010 United Nations General Assembly.

The movement proposed that the best way to achieve world peace is to take a moderate, centrist approach that neither leans to the left nor to the right.

Umno hypocrites? Yes and no

Since then, Umno leaders have often touted the party, the ruling BN government, and Malaysia as moderate.

However, critics see this as a farce, citing crackdowns against dissent, and intolerance towards any perceived threat to Islam in Malaysia, among others.

Asked whether Umno was being hypocritical in calling itself moderate, Saifuddin responded "yes and no".

"Yes (Umno is hypocritical), if you were to look at some Umno leaders today," he said without naming names.

"No if you look at the history of Umno from Tunku Abdul Rahman's time. Tunku was a libertarian, so was Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman and to a certain extent, so was Hussein Onn.

"Umno is based on liberal ideas, on democracy and celebration of diversity," he added.

He said the party, however, has to live up to its claims of being moderate, because that is what the people want.

"Outside of Umno, the idea of moderation as an approach is very well received by Malaysians. In fact, the only negative comment is whether the government is walking the talk," Saifuddin said.

During the interview, Saifuddin, who is in Najib's camp, said reviving the prime minister's moderate and progressive pre-GE13 policies were the best way for Umno to win the next general election.

He had said, in the first part of this interview, that it was in the best interest of Umno members to stick with Najib as president, instead of ousting him.

This interview was jointly conducted by Zikri Kamarulzaman and Chia Jian Mei.

Part 1: Stick with Najib, Saifuddin tells Umno