Wong Chin Huat of the Penang Institute told FMT he believed Abdul Hadi Awang’s controversial article in Harakah Daily had resulted in an increase in the number of non-Muslims with misgivings about the Islamist party.
He said it was likely that Hadi had provoked non-Muslims to be determined to ensure PAS’s defeat in the coming general election.
Hadi, in the article uploaded to Harakah Daily last Friday, said a country like Malaysia ought to be ruled under a system in which the policymaking powers are held by Muslims, with non-Muslims playing roles as technocrats and managers.
Before the publication of the article, according to Wong, there was still a chance that non-Muslims would vote for PAS in cases of straights fights between the Islamist party and Umno.
“But now, voters will interpret Hadi’s statement as meaning that PAS does not need non-Muslim votes,” he said. “It will weaken PAS in some constituencies. Hadi may have done a disservice to candidates contesting under the PAS ticket.”
PAS was thought of as a strong party when it was part of the Pakatan Rakyat alliance, which fell apart after it cut ties with DAP in July 2015. This led to the formation of Pakatan Harapan by DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara, a splinter of PAS. PPBM joined the coalition last March.
Wong noted that PAS was strong only on the East Coast until 2008, when it increased its popularity in Kedah and Perak, “partly due to the anti-Umno wave”. Many of its new supporters were non-Muslims.
However, Wong added, Hadi’s article showed that he was now hoping to draw a line between Muslims and non-Muslims.
He said he doubted that the PAS leader would be successful in doing so because other opposition parties were working to bring non-Muslims and Muslims together.
“This is where Dr Mahathir Mohamad comes into the picture,” he said, referring to the Pakatan Harapan chairman.
He spoke of Mahathir’s political savvy in regaining Chinese support after losing nearly 70% of their votes in the general election of 1999, when he was prime minister.
“A normal politician would say, ‘Let’s teach the community a lesson.’ But Mahathir, under his Vision 2020, opened private universities to allow more opportunities for study. He was not vengeful.”
PPBM says Hadi ‘racist’ for limiting role of non-Muslim ministers