COMMENT Exactly how will the private member’s bill submitted by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang be played out this week?

My guess is as good any anyone else’s, but in my opinion, it will be yet another red herring which is intended to garner support for Barisan Nasional, the way they think it has helped them win two by-elections.

In order to win rural Malay votes, it will be used to show Umno’s solidarity behind what is dubbed as the hudud bill. This is a long foregone conclusion, as Umno will not do anything unless it is politically expedient to the party.

What we read in the English dailies, especially in the alternative media, will be different from what is painted by Utusan Malaysia and the other newspapers targeting the rural Malays.

This, I believe, is to pave the way for Abdul Hadi’s PAS to collaborate with Umno. If some agreement could be reached in the collaboration between the two parties before the next general election, especially in rural seats where every attempt will be made to ‘unite’ rural Malay votes either for PAS or Umno candidates, the PAS grassroots in these constituencies will not hesitate to vote for Umno.

I see that there is an attempt to set the stage for such collaboration, because Umno realises it is a goner where the Malay votes are concerned.

The Chinese and Indian votes especially in the urban seats are no longer important to them in the peninsula. If there are any attempts to win the next general election, Umno has to secure more seats, which I suspect is now being done through the alleged gerrymandering process.

Judging from the last state election in Sarawak, it appears to me that Sarawak would remain in Barisan Nasional’s hands unless the Sarawakians wake up to the injustices that they see happening in this country.

Unfortunately, most rural Sarawakians are too insulated from national politics and may not even understand how news about the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal has placed Malaysia on par with countries like Zimbabwe.

Umno is beating the same drum

In my opinion, Umno is beating the same drum that it had played during the last by-elections.

MCA and Gerakan will take this opportunity to show to the Chinese community that they, too, cannot agree with the Hadi bill. They will try to outdo the DAP in opposing Hadi’s bill.

After all, their voices are not important because the PAS grassroots would not need to vote for them anyway in constituencies where PAS has a representative against the DAP. Umno needs the rural Malay votes more than PAS needs the Chinese or Indian votes in urban constituencies.

The same script will be parroted by the MIC as well so that they can tell the Indian community that they do not support the bill. Eventually, when the bill is rejected, it is a so-called victory for both MIC, and the Chinese community-based parties. They will tell the Indian and Chinese communities that BN will never allow the bill to be passed.

Therefore, if PAS were to join force with Pakatan Harapan, it would be to the disadvantage of the coalition. This is what Umno is trying to achieve through the Hadi bill. Only Hadi appears to be ignorantly playing to the tune of the game, or as suggested by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he may have taken the ‘dedak’ (chicken feed).

The game will also be used against both Amanah and Muhyiddin Yassin’s Bersatu. These are the two major threats to Umno’s base in the rural constituencies.

We can see from the thuggish behaviours of Umno youths that the party is indeed afraid that the rural Malay votes will swing to either Amanah or Bersatu.

All other factors put aside, if Amanah were to contest Umno in rural constituencies in a one-to-one fight, Umno will try to garner as many Malay votes as possible including those from the PAS grassroots.

PAS, without Hadi, may be a better party to work with, than when it is now helmed by Hadi. Perhaps, it is time for Selangor PAS to exit and join Amanah, and start to push for a more progressive Malaysia.

Pakatan Harapan’s window of opportunity

Pakatan Harapan along with the other opposition parties will now have the opportunity to expose Umno’s hypocrisy in Parliament using the private bill to garner votes.

It is also a great opportunity for the Muslim parliamentarians to expose how the penalties have failed to include, among other things, corruption.

Why does, for example, someone who steals RM100 may have his hand amputated but not one who stole RM4 billion?

We know that the moment hudud is introduced by the BN, it will rock the boat especially in Sarawak. Therefore, let’s give Umno the chase for its votes and have fun in the Parliament the moment Hadi’s bill is brought up.

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