Hmmm... PAS. This is a very difficult subject. I have quite a bit to say about them (as a subject) but I don't really know where to start. I had some line of thoughts yesterday but streamyx was cranky. So, my 'ideas' were 'tertelan'.
Let's start with my stand on PAS. Growing up reading The Star and Berita Harian, PAS is like a bad word. PAS in my growing up days equates extremist Islam, backwardness, turbans and a bit of terrorism. And quite a bit more negative aspects. After all, the pictures of their leaders never seem to make them look like one of us, average urban Malaysians. So, naturally there is this fear of them and everything that they represent. I don't think that it is too far fetched to say that they put fear of Islam in me too.
But my opinion of PAS started to change since I started my working life. I've had ex-colleagues from Kelantan. I've been sent to Kelantan for some short term work. And of course the internet gives you views from every angle. Kelantanese are very different from Klang Valley citizens, that's for sure. What I notice is that Kelantanese are very protective of Kelantan regadless of whether they are a Malay or Chinese. (I don't know any Indians from Kelantan though). The most frequent reply I get from them is 'you all don't understand Kelantan'. Which is true. The media has projected PAS and Kelantan to us based on what they want us to belief. And it is all for political mileage. I dare say that Kelantan is less racist than Klang Valley. The people there are really friendly.
And PAS is not all about chopping hands and stoning to death. Yes, they have their 'hudud' but what do we non-Muslims know about hudud? Before we comment on anything, have we done any research or are we simply being led by the government owned media spins or CNN's bias reporting? There is much more to the hudud law then simply physical punishment but we choose to see the negative side only. I won't comment further cause I am no expert in this subject but suffice that I say that the most of us do not know jack shit in Islamic laws in its true from. In fact most of us do not know jack shit about Islam. I am not a religious person but I do belief that no religion promotes anything bad. If it is bad, I bet you that that bad element is a result of wrong interpretation by soem dumb followers to justify his/her actions. (By the way, why is stoning to death not acceptable while death by hanging, lethal injection or electrocution accepted?)
Ok ok... This is not about Islam. This is about PAS. So, what I am trying to say is that I no longer fear PAS. In fact I see merit in many of their policies. Free your mind. Open up to what is not norm to you. Not everything you are unused to is bad.
PAS and it's economics. Why vote PAS and send us back to stone age like Kelantan. If this is your line of thoughts, how shallow can you get? Are you not aware of how Malaysian politics work? Has anyone actually thought that PAS is not able to develop Kelantan simply because the federal government deprive them of funds rightly due to them? Are they supposed to build the state out of sand? Just because most of their leaders are clerics does not make them economic idiots. But the reality is Kelantan is rich in nothing and is not exactly that well geographically located. Given the right resources, am sure they can make the state a much better place. At the very least, you as a taxpayer will know that wastages will be at a minimum and corruption is going to be a rarity. On the other hand, UMNO and BN is guaranteed to squander our money and pocket a whole lot of them.
Nevertheless, I do think that PAS has many faults. Be fair to them la, no political party is perfect. And the most recent imperfection is the rejection of liberals in PAS. That's how I see Husam Musa's defeat in their just ended muktamar. It's not that I don't like Nasharuddin Isa, actually I know jack shit about him, but I would like to see a PAS leadership with a balanced liberals and clerics. After all, I am hoping that PAS will form the next government with DAP and PKR via Pakatan Rakyat.
Furthermore, I am not too pleased with them raising the "unity government with UMNO" issue again. PAS has to understand that their recent 'victories' in securing non-Muslim votes has got a lot to do with the votes being given to PR and not PAS. I am sure than PAS on their own will not garner these votes. I think the party has never seen such strong support in their lifetime and is presently a little way over themselves. They need to wake. up. Many Malaysians are voting PAS for a change in government. Please do not equate the votes as support for PAS and its ideologies. If they continue doing this, the whole cause will be lost and UMNO will regain it's footings. That will be a shame. Sometimes, with all these talks coming out of PAS, don't you just wonder that if UMNO really have their people planted in PAS. It's really stupid talk, really. Very much stabbing themselves.
Side note: As to the matter of PAS being able to make Malaysia an Islamic state, don't get frightened la. They will never be able to do that. Not unless 2/3 of the parliament vote for that. And PAS alone will NEVER get the 2/3 they require. The Islamic State is their manifesto but that does not mean that it will materialise simply because they are able to hold power. So, anyone with a thinking capability, please don't use this as an argument. It does not hold water.
There is also this call on the ban of Sisters in Islam. Before I go on any further, who is this SIS anyway? Diorang ni buat aper? I don't know jack shit about them and so will not comment on if the call for ban is fair or not. But Neo says that it is not right to ban this and ban that. I don't think that that is a fair statement from Neo. Simply because we all want see the spirit of democracy. And is it not the rights for anyone to voice their opinion? If PAS feels that SIS is acting against their religion, why can't they raise the issue? Just like when they are not pleased with some rockers performing in Malaysia, why can't they voice their displeasure? It's their rights. Why is it that they are only allowed to voice against something that you and I are also against? Why is it that we can call for Maths and Science to be taught in schools in place of BM (which is the Malay's mother tongue) but they are not allowed to call for SIS to be banned? Who is to judge that Maths and Science in English is the best for the country? We have our views but it is not necessarily the best option for the country as a whole. But we are allowed to make that call because we believe in democracy. So, why should PAS not be allowed to voice their opinion?
That's a little I wanna say about PAS. Time for us to wake up and judge them fairly and not based on the spins made by the government owned media. We Malaysians in general have been poisoned long enough. Just like the communist issue. "Communist" as a word is portrayed as worse than any bad words in the world. What is so wrong about communism actually? It is just another ideology. But our school text books turn communism into devil worshipping. That's Malaysia folks. China is still a communist country today and the whole world is trying to buddy them. It's not your fault that you are myopic. It's the government's fault for brain washing us via our education system and corrupted information dissemination.
Since I mentioned The Star in this article, here's one for the road. Wong Chun Wai, you suck!
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I'm pretty much indifferent about PAS. True that voters voted for the PAS candidate because of PR. That should not get into their head too much thinking that everyone supports them because of their ideaologies but merely thinking of the bigger picture.
I still reckon that race-based and religion-based politics should be done away with. Otherwise it would just be a certain party 'championing' the rights of a certain race and all that mambo-jumbo. When do we move away from such a myopic mentality? I pity the Indians tho. I lost count of how many political parties who claim to represent them.
Agree that PAS can't do anything major without having 2/3 majority whic would allow them to change the Malaysian Constitution. PAS can't do it alone.
Malaysiakini/malaysiainsider/zaid ibrahim blog/malaysia today/ is not government own blog.
I read star/nst/sun and watch bernama news, ntv7 news. These are government blog.
As a responsible malaysian citizen, It is my obligation to seek as much opinion/information before talking/writing/commenting on issues.
Therefore, saying government is brainwashing me is totally incorrect.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Neo,
"cheating/betraying trust/banning/maybe even killing to achieve this objective". That's a little harsh is it not? When have they done any of this (apart from banning certain things)?
Like I've said before, you can buy pork in Kelantan but you can't buy pork in Shah Alam!
And, on the Islamist party thingy. I am totally against race and religion based politics. But so what if they are an Islamist party? What can they do to us? Turkey is an Islamic country you know. Look at Turkey - all fine and dandy. I wanna visit there one day too.
Don't be so Islamaphobia la. Be open man. Accept other people's religion(s).
By the way, Islam is not a religion. It is a way of life. I belief that Islam in its true and pure form promotes good to mankind.
Why quote turkey?
what bout Pakistan/somalia/iran/lebanon/egypt/saudi arabia/iraq/afganistan/bangladesh?
you can buy pork in shah alam. It is located in Sri Muda... and also alam megah.. i know because i work here
Like most religions, it's all based on how you interpret the holy scriptures. As we are all aware, there are moderate and there are extremist, be it Christians, Muslims, even Jewish extremist.
Religion is a way of life and from what I see Kelantan is still as peaceful as it was. No persecution of non-muslims, nor do we hear of any rampant cheating or killings in Kelantan. If there is... the UMNO/BN media will jump on it in an instance and paint the PAS leadership in bad light.
Like I said, I'm indifferent of PAS. But labelling a certain religion in total bad light does not augur well. We have heaps of friends who are of that religion, do you see that evilness in them? I don't think so. Do they spit on us calling us infidels? No. It is people who want to sow the seeds of hatred amongst us are the ones that are the extremist, they may claim to be of a certain religion, but I don't think they know jack sh*t about their religion because what they are doing is againts the good teachings of that religion.
One can never eliminate religion. Till the end of the world, we would still see people of such faith, whether you like it or not.
'Like I said, I'm indifferent of PAS'
what does it mean anyway? u england very powderful la..hahah
I wish all of you were there when YB Khalid Samad walloped the leadership on unity govt. One thing that was not stressed enough in all the media was the fact that it could only happened at a PAS muktamar where a member could tick off the leadership openly and got away with it. I am not worried about unity govt. The leaders can spend 1001 nights on secret talks but the moment they want to make it a policy, they have to convince the perwakilan at a special muktamar. I can tell you that PAS members are a different breed from UMNO. If a UMNO leader asked a member to jump, most likely the respond would be 'how high'. Ask that of a PAS member, the response would be 'Why should I?'
Neo: Indifferent means that I have no special liking or disliking of PAS. It does not bother me so to say.
Mak Kecik: Haha! I do believe that most PAS people are much smarter than the UMNO goons.
For the first time in my life, I agree 100% with what you wrote in your blog. Seriously you wrote everything down that is correct, complete, accurate and spot on.
Tq.
There will always be diverse voices within parties like PAS, PKR and DAP. Just like how a few idiots like Nazri and that Bukit Bendera UMNO division chief does not represent the majority in UMNO, a few conflicting opinions from PAS does not mean the party is bad. I also think there are still many great and respectable folks within BN itself (Zaid Ibrahim was one of them before he left them). We should not write off UMNO ability to change itself.
However, my strong view remains that BN, especially UMNO, need to lose power to act as a catalyst for change. Losing power will let BN purge themselves of those lazy ass rent seekers since there will be no more rent to seek. Let PKR, DAP and PAS run the country for one term and then let the people judge again. With this two party rule (BN and Pakatan), we will have some check and balance. The police and judiciary will not be so one sided cause they are not sure who their political master will be.
In the end of the day, PAS, PKR and DAP might turn out to be incompetent to run the country, but this will be no worse than what BN is doing. Look at the PKFZ, billions down the drain. These billions would have done wonders in upgrading education and healthcare for poor malaysians.
Let's give Pakatan, including PAS a change at running government.
LtD: I agree. Give them a chance. BUt in the long run.... as I have always been saying like a broken record.. .race based and religion-based politics should be chucked out of the window if this country is to porgress further.
Simon: I overlooked your last sentence... yes.. Wong Chun Wai... you suck! :P
yeay! of all your comments, finally someone support me on wong chun wai hahaha
Well said LtD.
For the record (someone pls print this and keep it filed), I will not vote PR forever. Give them a term or 2 and it will be time to change. A 2 party system of check and balance. Greed is a human nature. PR may be clean for now (are they?), but that's because they don't have OUR money dangling in front of them now. Dangle it for a few years and things will be different.
Hopefully by then, BN would have purged the rubbish out of themselves and be votable (is there such a word?).
Will hold you to your word Simon. As for me... I will vote for change. And when the time comes for another change, I will vote for the party(ies) that would ensure a change for the better. More so if they are not race-based political parties.
Hey Simon Templer,
ISLAM IS A RELIGION AND NOT A WAY OF LIFE !!!!
Hinduism is a way of life and not a religion !!!!
Get ur facts properly bud if not they will roast ur ass!!!!
Dear Simon..
The reason why we are against the Ban on the Sister in Islam is because... when you have something against someone.. u should open up and talk abt it.. instead of just "BAN" them.. what different is that from an Iron Fist Dictator..
I respect their rights to voice out.. but just simply banning a group that promote female welfare in Islam does not promote harmony.. It's true I also dont know much abt SIS.. but I have been following their activities in trying to stop the polygamy of Muslim, trying to stop all the banning of books which the Islamic groups feels it not good or against their teaching..
Then again.. I am not against PAS.. I am just sick on why they go on and claim that they are "HOLY HOLY HOLY" and yet.. they went ahead and do things that does not make sense??
For an instance.. YB NIZAR IS from PAS... who is the one who unseated him as MB from Perak using "questionable" methods... WHY PAS is not helping him so much.. giving him support.. but You hear more support from DAP and PKR? WHY?
*another thing is that.. if that person from a start claim that they are sinners.. and bad person.. then I won't harbour such disappointment and disgust.. because that is what I would expect from them.
Kinda interesting to see the comments on this.
Bintulu2007: If you have read about the disclaimers on the right and bottom, the authors do not claim that their postings are accurate. Simon already says he knows 'jack shit' about it. It's merely his 'jack chit' opinion... and here in SPAnK... everyone is entitled to have one... including you.
Thank you for pointing us to the right direction... don't need to go uber emo because of someone voicing his/her opinion. Chill dude...the playground is that way. :)
Bintulu2007,
Thx for pointing out. But I am not the one who claim that Islam is a way of life. Their scholars claim it to be. I am merely stating what the Muslims say.
BTW, what is religion anyway? Food of thought for the day.
error: "Food FOR though"
Quote for the day:
"And in correcting yourself, you tend to have to correct yourself over and over again."
by A Nincompoop who erred in his correction
error: "Food FOR THOUGHT"
double checked. got it right this time.