YOURSAY | 'Nik Abduh wants ties to remain until Judgment Day – truly a marriage not made in heaven.'

'PAS-Umno ties should last until Judgment Day'

Vijay47: What a cute, romantic wish from Bachok MP Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz – a yearning for Umno and PAS be together, till death do they part and beyond. Truly a marriage not made in heaven.

On Judgment Day, if you are asked about Lembaga Tabung Haji funds, blame Pakatan Harapan's Rafizi Ramli or Tony Pua. That should bring the house down. The only one in tears would be Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Don't bother about packing warm clothes. A small warning, though, Nik Abduh, compared to where you all are heading, Sungai Buloh would seem like paradise.

Teh Tarik: Formal merger or not, this Umno-PAS cooperation seems to be working, which doesn't augur well for a plural society like Malaysia. 

If it succeeds, it will be bad for racial harmony and even worse for the economy. Rantau and other recent by-elections show that at least 80 percent of conservative Malays are not ready for reform. 

The narrative is that only a Muslim leader or political party can safeguard the interests of Malay-Muslims, and that syariah law is superior to civil law, on which the Federal Constitution is based.

This is exactly what has been said repeatedly by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, and other leaders from his party and Umno. There is a strong chance that this alliance will be in power in the future, perhaps during the next general election, and push for a more Islamic state. 

This will cause panic and chaos among the non-Muslim population, who will be further sidelined. 

My strong advice is for all non-Muslims and liberal Malays to be prepared for this day of reckoning. Once this 'tsunami' hits, it might be too late, as what will lay in the aftermath is a failed state.

Anonymous_5a309591: Nik Abduh, your father Nik Aziz was a great man. You, not so much. 

To Harapan leaders, concentrate on exposing and charging those guilty of corruption. Keep engaging with rational folk and you will rule eternally. Umno will ultimately collapse because of the arrogance and rottenness of its leaders. 

Umno-PAS Islamic politics 'shines' in Rantau win - Noraini

Anonymous_1527925538: I don't get it. What is there to shout about with the by-election win in Rantau? An acting Umno president and three-term assemblyperson won against a relatively unknown contender with a reduced majority. 

Anonymous 2043581479977820: Rantau was a walkover for the acting Umno president.

He is a local boy, and has represented Rantau for three terms already. It was clear from day one that Mohamad would take the seat. 

So the fact that he has won does not reflect the purported messages that the opposition says the rakyat is sending to Harapan. 

Of course, it is only to be expected that the opposition leaders will capitalise on the victory by interpreting the results to their advantage and running down the ruling government. That's politics. 

Lodestar: It's nonsense to say that the results of the Rantau by-election prove the success of the Umno-PAS alliance. 

PAS doesn't have much support in Rantau. Non-Malays voted for Mohamad because he is seen as a moderate Malay leader. 

Unlike in previous by-elections, Umno did not pursue a racist, ultra-Malay narrative in Rantau, so what it proves is that they can win big in a multiracial electorate if they drop that sort of toxic narrative. 

The results also show that Harapan cannot take the vote of non-Malays for granted, because they are not its fixed deposit.

VGeorgeMy: Wanita Umno chief Noraini Ahmad, are you sure that there is an ascendency of political Islam in Malaysia and around the world? 

What about in Sudan, where political Islam came to power as early as 1983? Or across the Middle East, where ageing dictatorships were running amok with public wealth assisted by the Western countries? 

Theocracy once appeared as the only viable opposition to moral and economic deprivation. 

Sudan instituted Islamic law in a diverse society like ours. This exacerbated the rift between the Islamic north, the seat of the government, and the animists and Christians in the south. 

Differences in language, religion, and political power erupted in a civil war between government forces, eventually concluding in the independence of South Sudan in 2011. In sum, the same type of political Islam propagated by Umno-PAS was that which divided Sudan into two countries along religious lines. 

Noraini might have heard the fall of the al-Bashir regime and its political Islamic leadership last week. She might have seen on social media a young woman dressed not in conservative garb, but in a traditional white tobe, elegantly symbolic of the powerful, politically active woman of the 1960s and 1970s, as was the case here.

We are confident that as in Malaysia, that the current revolution underway in Sudan will succeed in placing an administration representative of its diverse society, that allows a new generation of young people to flourish – representing the real potential of what humanity can achieve.

Noraini, what is in the ascendency is the traditional democratic way of life, as it is in 'New Malaysia'. And Sudan is only the beginning. 

Benar123: Even if Harapan was the best government in the world, there would still be those who would vote for Umno-PAS – because they have been poisoned for so long, not able to think beyond their little boxes. 

Even if the cost of living dropped a great deal, and the economy improved a great deal, they would still vote for the conservative alliance. 

Now the only option we have left is to punish all the corrupt crooks harshly, jailing them without delay. This will serve as a wake-up call to the rakyat.

NA: It's just far too easy to stereotype the Malays. Without Malay votes, Harapan would not have won GE14, and Umno would not have been brought down. 

Harapan can and must do better. It hasn't even been in government for a year. There are over four years to GE15, plenty of time to win people over. 

The ruling coalition cannot dance to the tune of Umno-PAS, but must instead continue to focus on good governance and improving the well-being of the people. 

It was initially difficult in Penang and Selangor as well, but the people were eventually won over.

Cogito Ergo Sum: The results in Rantau, unfortunately, are a referendum on prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim. 

When it comes to politics and religion and now political Islam, Anwar it seems, has been rejected by the Malay-Muslim electorate. Understanding this new dynamic is key for Harapan. 

Sadly, the only way Harapan can win anything anywhere any more is if Umno is deregistered. And that is the political reality on the ground.

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