Is PAS harbouring any hope of striking a pact with opposition parties, especially with a general election less than two years away?

The current prognosis points to the unlikelihood of any tie-up, given the gaping differences in the objectives of PAS' struggles and that of its fellow opposition parties - DAP and PKR, as well as Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah).

According to political analysts, PAS never had much success in forging long-term political alliances with opposition parties, with loosely-formed coalitions like Barisan Alternatif and, later, Pakatan Rakyat being good cases in point.

Head of National Council of Professors' Cluster on Governance, Law and Public Management Prof Dr Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod said PAS must have realised by now that the previous pacts it was part of had not been in its favour and that they merely served as a platform for its partners to use the party for their own gains, particularly during election campaigns.

"It's highly unlikely that PAS will return to its previous allies. Its performance in the Sungai Besar (in Selangor) and Kuala Kangsar (Perak) parliamentary by-elections recently has somewhat given the party more confidence to go it alone.

"Furthermore, PAS' aspiration to introduce hudud is vehemently opposed by DAP, while the PKR leadership has said that it will not support PAS' move to introduce the Islamic law... this factor will also add to PAS' reluctance to enter into any form of political cooperation with its old allies," he told Bernama.

Nik Ahmad Kamal said as long as Amanah, which is a PAS splinter party, remained a member of Pakatan Harapan, there was little hope of PAS joining the opposition coalition, which was formed in September last year following the dissolution of Pakatan Rakyat.

"This is because they feel that the Amanah leaders who left PAS (to form Amanah) had besmirched PAS' struggle," he added.

He said the situation became more complicated when PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang tabled a Private Member's Bill at the Dewan Rakyat on May 26 to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act, which was construed by DAP as an opportunity for PAS to introduce hudud.

"DAP regards the tabling of the bill as a manifestation of PAS' struggle (to introduce hudud), which clashes with its (DAP's) own fundamentals and principles. The major obstacle to these parties working together again is the wide difference in their basic struggles and goals.

"DAP feels now that it is part of Pakatan Harapan, it can win many state and parliamentary seats... the party's thinking is that if it had remained aligned to PAS, it stood to lose many non-Malay votes. PAS, meanwhile, feels that Pakatan Harapan, especially DAP, will not get the Malay votes (without the help of PAS) and it's confident of springing a few surprises in Malay-majority constituencies, come the 14th general election (GE14)," he said.

Is there a possibility of PAS joining the new opposition coalition spearheaded by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad?

To this, Nik Ahmad Kamal commented that although PAS was on the lookout for suitable allies with which it could forge political cooperation, the new coalition, however, may not be the party's choice.

He said with the Mahathir-led coalition yet to firm up its goals and objectives, PAS could not gauge how it (coalition) could benefit the party, in terms of boosting its voter base.

National aspiration

On July 14, Mahathir announced that he was partnering with opposition leaders to form a new coalition, comprising DAP, PKR, Amanah and a soon-to-be formed political party, which would take on the BN at GE14.

Hadi, however, has said that PAS was not in a hurry to make a decision whether or not to join the proposed coalition. He said he viewed the new pact as chaotic as it was only aimed at toppling the current government.

On Monday, PAS deputy spiritual leader Ahmad Yakob said the party would adopt a wait-and-see attitude as it was still too early for it to make any decision pertaining to the proposed coalition.

Universiti Utara Malaysia senior lecturer in political and international studies Md Shukri Shuib, meanwhile, opined that the new coalition could not possibly nurture any national aspiration other than toppling the ruling government.

Certainly, it is not a worthy alternative to BN, and if PAS does agree to join the Mahathir-led coalition, it shows that PAS is willing to pawn off the party in order to be a supporter of Mahathirism which, ironically, was something it had opposed for decades.

"But I think that as long as Hadi and (PAS spiritual leader) Haron Din are helming PAS, it will not join the new coalition.

“Should it (eventually) join Pakatan Harapan or the new coalition, PAS must remember the negative impact of any such alliance, especially if DAP is also part of it. They (PAS) already know what it is like to cooperate with them... have they still not learnt their lessons?" asked Md Shukri.

He added that any decision by PAS to join the new coalition would lead to more problems for the party, in view of the differences in the ideologies and struggles peddled by the component parties, as well as their political styles and approaches, and the presence of former Umno president Mahathir himself in the scheme of things.

- Bernama