THE Islam that was recently presented by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang at the party’s 65th annual congress clearly aims to attract more Malays to the newly sealed alliance between his Islamist party and Malay-based Umno to the point of largely alienating non-Muslims in this multi-ethnic and multireligious country.

Such exclusivity that Hadi champions is manifested in his contention that integrity is not as important as a person’s faith (read: Islam).

Therefore, even a corrupt Muslim is better than a morally upright non-Muslim – much to the chagrin of concerned Malaysians who are rightly averse to divisive and toxic politics.

There is no better ingredient than this assertion to fully set the fault-line between Malay-Muslims and non-Muslims in a society that actually needs national integration, and mutual respect and understanding between ethnic and faith groups as a way to move forward after decades of being dragged down by race and religion.

While the PAS leadership assures the population that the party will also take care of the welfare and interests of non-Malay constituents, Hadi’s clear preference for Malay-Muslims in various facets of life, no matter their degree of integrity, would only reinforce the sentiments that the non-Malay communities are indeed rendered second-class citizen status.

In a land where being Malay necessarily equals to being Muslim, PAS has paved the way for Malay supremacy to be reinvigorated via Muslim supremacy.

Incidentally, this begs the question as to what role, if at all, can the rump non-Malay component parties of Barisan Nasional (BN), ie MCA and MIC, play in this new configuration? Mere gawking spectators?

In a sense, this Malay exclusivity puts into question the very idea of citizenship in a democratic society where everyone is supposed to be treated equally and justly, to offer opportunities for them to tap their full potential for the benefit of the nation as a whole.

This form of exclusivity is also the narrative that resonates with the assertion of the Malay-Muslim nationalists: that the interests of the Malays and status of Islam are being eroded or marginalised by the present Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, thanks to the supposed machination of “devil DAP”.

Hence, the favourite mantra, let’s unite for the sake of the Ummah.

By publicly preferring Muslims to non-Muslims, PAS has conveyed the impression that it is even willing to exonerate Umno’s past malfeasance, particularly its involvement in the notorious 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, as a political move to forge this marriage of convenience.

It is also a political strategy to entice the bottom 40% of Malays in particular, who, rightly or wrongly, feel that their economic hardship has not been sufficiently addressed by the PH administration.

In other words, Hadi and newly found Umno partner single-mindedly aim to grab the coveted prize of Putrajaya from the hands of the PH coalition in the next general election.

Having said that, it may baffle the curious minds of some Malay-Muslims and concerned non-Muslims as to how, if we were to unpack Hadi’s contention, a corrupt Muslim can still hold his or her head high, despite committing acts that actually smear the good name of Islam, let alone of the person concerned.

Worse, how could the Muslim community tolerate, let alone condone, such malfeasance of fellow Muslims who in reality not only give Islam a bad name, but also cause great harm to the larger society in various ways?

Surely, integrity is one of the moral qualities of human beings, particularly Muslims, that should be acquired and preserved.

For, the characteristics of a person who is bereft of integrity are treachery, deception, corruption, deviance etc, which are inimical to the teachings of Islam.

Furthermore, the argument put forward by Hadi doesn’t seem to take into account the political dynamics of the Federation where Sarawak and Sabah have a majority of non-Muslim population.

Wouldn’t his religion-based strategy marginalise these two states and, in turn, invite complications of sorts that the Umno-PAS alliance may not wish for in the first place?

In this alliance’s attempt to bring the PH government down via the ballot box, we hope that the rest of the country will not be brought down to a slippery slope as a result. – June 24, 2019.