LISTENING to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today, one can imagine that the Malaysia under his rule would be similar to a country where roles are defined by caste, or race.

That type of authority is racism at its worst, and apartheid at its best.

In other words, Hadi is trying to institutionalise two classes of Malaysians, those who are Muslims and those who are not. And simply put, that is unconstitutional.

His line of thinking might resonate with the far right who believe Malaysia – that combines Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak – should be under Malay Muslim rule but for most Malaysians, this is simply untrue and unpalatable.

And if anyone, particularly those of different faiths and race, do vote for PAS in the coming elections, he or she would be supporting a regime that breeds and fosters racism.

Yes, think South Africa before Nelson Mandela was freed from imprisonment. Think of all the countries where leadership is determined by race and religion. Under Hadi, that could be Malaysia.

But is this any surprise from the cleric who burst into national headlines with his Amanat Hadi in the early 1980s that labelled Muslims who do not support PAS as apostates and infidels?

In a dialogue with Indian civil society groups today, Hadi said there would be two cabinets should the Islamist party come into power.

“If PAS rules, it will be divided into two – (one,) a cabinet that decides on national policies. This must consist of people who adopt the national ideology and faith.

“This cabinet will appoint an executive cabinet to carry out the policies and the members can be non-Muslims, appointed based on their expertise,” said the Marang MP at the PAS dialogue in Kepala Batas, Penang, today.

The second group would be the technocrats who carry out government policies, he said. “The technocrats can be from Parliament or the private sector”

Hadi said Islam allowed for non-Muslims to be in the cabinet although Malaysia was a Muslim-majority country.

“This is different from western democracy where if the Democrats win the elections, the cabinet and government officers are only Democrats; the same with Conservative, Republican or Labour party governments.”

He is sorely mistaken here. Even President Donald Trump, the Republican, has named a few Democrats to his cabinet or in advisory posts. If he is talking about Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, it would of course be among the winning parties.

But here’s the thing. This is party affiliations. Not faith.

Can anyone be discriminated from a political post because of their faith? Only in Hadi’s imagination.

His and his party’s political record speaks for itself. The Hadi government only ruled one term in Terengganu from 1999 to 2004 when it was sorely beaten. In Kedah, the late Azizan Abdul Razak also ruled for one term from 2008 to 2013.

Only Kelantan has bucked the trend since 1990, more due to the stature of the late PAS leader and former menteri besar, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, rather than Hadi’s political philosophy.

The question is, is he talking only from the perspective of religion or also race?

Because during the question-and-answer segment, Hadi said Indians would not be excluded from a PAS cabinet.

“Indians are the next biggest ethnic group after the Chinese. If we governed the country, we must include other races. The government cannot consist of PAS only.

“This is very important in the executive (cabinet). We must respect the expertise of the different races,” he added.

Expertise? Doesn’t this sound like the caste system where one is identified by the job scope or role of the entire community. A dhoby can only be a dhoby, a trader only a trader and a priest only a priest?

Where is the PAS for All that was the slogan previously? Or is it really more All for PAS?

The bottomline is simple as outlined by Hadi. A vote for PAS that brings them to power will change Malaysia into a nation ruled along religious and racial lines – a scenario that is utterly unconstitutional and against the very idea of a Malaysia where everyone is equal before the law. – February 4, 2018.