COMMENT With Umno now said to be in cahoots with PAS, the Chinese voters in peninsular Malaysia are likely to give not a hoot on the Chinese-majority party within Barisan Nasional (BN).

Cracks are also beginning to appear in BN, with the deep wounds now being opened up again over the issue of the hudud law.

In East Malaysia, in particular, Sarawak, because of Umno’s willingness to support the instrument towards implementing the hudud law, voters are unlikely to agree.

Even Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Joseph Kurup was taken aback by the action of the government to bring forward a Private’s Member Bill on hudud in Parliament.

This has also led to MCA’s president Liow Tiong Lai getting worried about the way how Umno has taken the path down the alley with the Islamist party.

There is really no reason why MCA’s party legal affairs bureau chairperson Tay Puay Chuan should hit out at Hadi, calling it a “sneaky tactic to implement the hudud enactment via the federal law”.

After all, it was Umno minister Azalina Othman who tabled it to be discussed much earlier, jumping the queue over other more urgent matters. Apparently, Tay was more interested in hitting out at PAS, and willing to accept Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s explanation.

This is true, more so because PAS, as it is now, is mainly comprising the ulama faction, after its better half or the Erdogan faction broke away from the party to form Parti Amanah Negara.

Amanah is a member party of the Pakatan Harapan, whereas PAS under the leadership of Abdul Hadi Awang, is not on the same platform.

Hadi’s lack of leadership and constant changing of position is putting PAS in a difficult relationship with the other opposition parties. Is it an Opposition party or one that is ultimately aligned to BN?

Whatever the response is from Najib, the voters will not be convinced that Umno and PAS would not cooperate in the next general election.

Where Najib is concerned, anything goes as long as he can stay in power. The Private Member’s Bill which was tabled by Hadi Awang nearly a year ago, was intended to allow the hudud law in Kelantan to be implemented.

Therefore, Najib’s attempt to downplay the implications of the Private Members’ Bill will not be easily accepted by the non-Muslim community as well as a large cross-section of the Muslim world.

Even MCA’s Youth chief Chong Sin Woon was quick to point out that “Umno members technically support the Hudud Bill tabled by PAS, which (clearly) undermines the federal constitution.”

I find it amusing why MCA president Liow Tiong Lai and Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong should threaten to resign from the cabinet, because apart from playing on the sentiments of voters who support the Hudud Bill, it will not be passed. It’s all polemics right from the start, and if we can see it, why not them?

What if?

What if PAS and Umno are after all willing to work hand-in-hand to counter Pakatan Harapan, especially since PAS would not work with Amanah, and Pakatan Harapan is likely to field an Amanah candidate?

Who would a Muslim vote for? At this juncture, the Muslim urban community are likely to give their support to Amanah rather than to PAS or Umno. So will the non-Muslim community who have supported Pakatan Rakyat in the past.

Therefore, a three-cornered fight would work out against Umno and PAS, instead of against Pakatan Harapan or Amanah. Umno’s head Najib would have to think twice before embarking on any form of collaboration with the current leadership of PAS.

It is unlikely that Umno would relinquish any of its seats for PAS to contest, and vice-versa. In case there is a break down in the relationship, Umno may find that it does not command enough seats in Parliament to remain in power.

Therefore, any form of cooperation between Umno and PAS would have to be thought through carefully. At this juncture, what Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman has done is potentially explosive, as both MIC and MCA are already openly retaliating against Umno.

The damage is already done. The cracks are appearing and inevitable. As ordinary citizens, we can see that Umno did not even bother to consult its coalition partners within BN. They were left in the lurch, and merely reacted after Azalina personally tabled it in Parliament to bring the bill forward.

Under normal circumstances, the speaker of the House would not allow such a request, but this being a request from the ruling party, it is unlikely that Pandikar Amin Mulia would reject it. But the debate would open up old wounds in the voters who are against the hudud laws.

Now, even Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem would have to explain to the people of Sarawak his personal stand over the hudud issue.

What’s next?

It will be interesting to see if the three PAS state exco members would be given the boot after PAS candidate for Sungai Besar in Selangor, Abdul Rani Osman was named.

Earlier, it was rumoured that Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali had given an ultimatum to Selangor PAS not to field a candidate for Sungai Besar.

His actions in the next one or two weeks will decide on the fate of PAS within the Selangor state government.

In the past, cooperation with PAS was mainly with the Erdogan faction of the Islamist party, namely with its leaders such as Mohamad Sabu (or Mat Sabu) and Khalid Samad.

At this juncture, Azmin has a tough decision to make whether to break ranks with PAS, but chances are that he will give it more time to see PAS’s strength in Sungai Besar.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.