JUDGING by its history in past coalitions, Umno would do well to be wary of its newly announced pact with Islamist party PAS, which has always been problematic with political partnerships, said an analyst at a forum in Kuala Lumpur today.

“PAS is a problematic party; it will fight with other members when it is in a coalition,” said Mohamad Tawfik Yaakub, a senior lecturer from the politics and administration studies department at the faculty of economics and administration in Universiti Malaya.

“PAS was from Umno, then it left and formed a new party. When PAS worked with Barisan Alternatif, they split up. Even in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS also left,” he said at a forum on the recent Semenyih by-election.

“It will fight when it is with other parties. When it is on its own, it will make a lot of noise,” said Tawfik.

PAS was founded in 1951 by Muslim clerics formerly from Umno. In 1998, the party teamed up with three other parties to form Barisan Alternatif as a counterweight to the ruling Barisan Nasional. The pact disbanded after the 2004 general elections.

In 2008, PAS joined DAP and PKR to form Pakatan Rakyat, but the pact disbanded over a series of disputes, especially on the insistence of the implementation of Islamic hudud law by the Islamist party.

Today’s forum discussed PAS’ recent alliance with Umno after the latter managed to wrest control of the Semenyih state seat from Pakatan Harapan.

Tawfik said the party should stop using religion to disguise its political ambitions.

“PAS shouldn’t use religion if it wants to be political. It is confusing everyone. Sometimes it appears to defend the religion like a civil society group, but then again it is political,” he said.

“Change your name and become an Islamic group the people will respect, rather than make political decisions that don’t benefit Muslims.”

He blamed the party’s misdirection on “little Pharaohs” surrounding party president Abdul Hadi Awang.

“All around them are little Pharaohs causing Hadi to sway from his direction. PAS has lost its direction,” said Tawfik.

Another panelist at the forum, Awang Azman Awang Pawi, said that despite its label as a problematic partner, PAS had proven in the past to be a good choice as a political partner because of its ability to win over the support of conservative Muslims.

He said that without PAS’ support, Umno would not have succeeded in winning the Semenyih seat. – March 7, 2019.