updated version

PAS has decided at its meeting today to postpone the 'Malay Unity' talks with Umno scheduled for tomorrow. Party president Fadzil Noor told a press conference this afternoon that the decision will be conveyed to Umno immediately.

PAS has also set a number of pre-conditions which should be met by Umno before the talks can begin. This include the return of the oil royalty taken from the state of Terengganu by the federal government and that newly-imposed restrictions on the circulation of party organ Harakah be lifted.

"We ask for the return to status quo on the issue of oil royalty. We also ask that Harakah be allowed to be published twice a week as before and not twice a month as is the case at present," said Fadzil.

He added that Umno should also retract its proposal to drop the word "Islam" from the names of political parties.

"These (requests) can be easily accomplished by Umno. The talks will take place when all these are agreed upon," he said.

Fadzil also said that there has been a number of incidents that have marred the holding of the talks, and the occurrence of such incidents does not provide a conducive environment for the talks to be held.

"Among them are police brutality at ceramah gatherings in Sabak Bernam (Selangor) when PAS MP Md Sabu was speaking and also the incident at Kubang Pasu (Kedah) where the police fired tear gas and chemical-laced water into the crowd. There were also the arrests of opposition supporters at Dang Wangi police station (Kuala Lumpur) yesterday. We also hear today that there have been arrests in Kulim (Kedah) when people went to see the court case (involving Lunas reformasi supporters).

"We do not want a discussion like the one in Palestine where there are shootings and killings. How can we sit down and talk inside a building when outside we are confronted with a 'hostile' environment?" asked Fadzil.

Anwar issue a stumbling block

The decision to postpone the Umno-PAS talks was reached after a two-hour meeting between the party's central committee and the technical committee in charge of the talks.

Other reasons cited by Fadzil for the postponement include a number of unresolved issues between the two rival parties.

On Thursday, PAS submitted four central issues to be discussed at the talks. Among them is the issue of the independence of the judiciary, especially concerning the sodomy and corruption trials of jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Besides the Anwar debacle, PAS also wanted to talk about the relationship between the federal government and the two states under PAS control (Kelantan and Terengganu); the misuse of public funds to bail out selected companies; and Umno's call for the word 'Islam' to be dropped from PAS' name.

According to sources, Umno is finding it a problem to accept PAS' conditions, especially regarding the Anwar issue.

Although postponed for now, Fadzil said the PAS technical committee will continue meeting with its counterpart in Umno with the aim of holding the talks at a later date.

Fadzil was accompanied by the PAS central committee members at the press conference, which was held at the party headquarters in Gombak, Selangor.

Concrete commitment

In saying that PAS regards the talks as a serious discussion, Fadzil also requested that Umno not only show its willingness to meet but also provide a concrete commitment to the talks.

Although there is a possibility that the Umno technical committee might say that it cannot fulfil the pre-conditions set by PAS, Fadzil said, "We know that Umno is the party that controls the government and these requests for the return of status quo is something which it is capable of doing.

"The return of status quo is not an ultimatum but if there needs to be discussion and talks, the rights of each party must be respected. If not, it (the environment) will be seen as 'not friendly'."

Fadzil recalled that he agreed to the talks with two conditions - one, Umno must be sincere and two, the talks should be on national unity.

"It is like going to ask for someone's hand in marriage. If the guests come to the house and the doors are not opened and the lights are not on, how can the two parties sit down and talk? One can only proceed with the talks when one is satisfied (with the environment)," said Fadzil.

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