The PAS Dilemma

"With man, religion is a field
Tilled only by those who sow it with selfish
prayers –
whether preachers hoping for eternal happiness
or ignorant men who fear the flames of hell.
Without the penalty of Judgment
Man would not have worshipped any Lord
And without the promise of reward he would
have blasphemed,
as though religion were a business matter
devotion to its cause will bring him gain;
neglect, loss.
Khalil Gibran

The path  the country  threading now, emphasizing only the laws of god; who enters the attributes of god in the front door, but his revered teachings of love and compassion  are thrown out through the back door. The anathema of politicians who are now using their religious books to demolish whatever civilization has built is the sad reality of countries which thinks that the inclusiveness of religion in the governance is the miracle medicine to solve all their misgivings. The misnomer of state sponsored religious fanatism which the government is expounding now through their Governing, without the respect and the recognition that the existence of diverse practices of religion which are not always same as what the ruler’s official religion is.

The severe competition now to win adherents to their religious fervour, between the political divide has reached a situation, whereby the nation’s interest and the economic well being and good will of the people are being sacrificed for their narrow political expediency. When the banning of entertainment for the fasting month of Ramadhan is enforced by the Kedah state government, the first one to criticize was Umno the leader of the ruling coalition, even though they are the one who enacted the law of banning night entertainment in 1997 during the fasting month, with the full cooperation of all the machais like MCA, MIC and Gerakan.

One thing manifested itself through this issue is the State PAS governments resolve which wanted to enforce a ruling which was kept in cold storage for umpteen years, and their contemptuous urgency and necessity to enforce the ruling now, is it to prove to Umno that PAS is more Islamic than Umno. Their sacrificing of inclusiveness and fairness will destroy their goodwill they have earned all this while, which has won many renewed support for them is. Killing the goodwill and trust which PAS stalwarts like Mat Saba and the progressive people are trying to built. Kedah State which was captured by Pakatan Rakyat in 2008,by myriads of reasons, like the disenchantment of Indian voters from MIC, the Hindraf Makkal Sakthi phenomena and the Chinese and Malay voters who deserted Barisan Nasional. Action like this will be self destructive in view of the imminent elections which will be called anytime, to the chagrin of non Muslim votes.

Eventhough the issue was resolved with the subsequent withdrawal, when it was announced that the restriction is only for Muslims. The issue was blown out of proportion by the main stream media, headed by the despicable Utusan Malaysia and TV3.The reinvented PAS and with the reformist faction headed by Mat Sabu looks very volatile in situation like this. Couple  with the a call for the banning of the concert in Selangor, notwithstanding the approval given by the Selangor  State Government, opens the Pandora’s box that extreme religious sentiments among them will be a continuing phenomena within PAS.

The emergence of pocket of extremist view from some die hard religionist from PAS which shows its head is matter of grave concern for supporters of PAS from the non Muslim. Will PAS continue to showcase the inclusiveness of all the races and religion which is being expounded by its reformist stalwarts or will it succumb to narrow parochial thoughts. Only time will answer this