Whither Now PAS?

Following the recent muktamar (congress), PAS is now feeling very confident.

But if PAS is thinking that just because they have voted in a more progressive, liberal leadership in Mohamad Sabu as deputy president and Husam Musa and Mahfuz Omar as vice-presidents of the party,  the so-called Edorgans, it will be able to win over the Malay middle ground and the non-Malays voters, PAS has to think again.

It will be a very long way to go before PAS is able to do so. For one thing, PAS BETTER stop flogging its Islamic agenda to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state and impose Syaria laws. If not, it would be the surest way to scare away the non-Malays  and even many Malays who for one reason or another may not openly oppose an Islamic state or Syaria laws.

Better still, PAS should altogether forget its Islamic agenda. But of course, PAS won't. So, no matter what PAS tries to do, there are always some lingering doubts in the minds of the non-Malays and may I say also, in the minds of many Malays as to whether to trust PAS.

And PAS Youth should stop wasting time calling for the authorities to ban foreign artistes or groups from performing here in Malaysia and instead focus its efforts and energies in calling on the government to fight against corruption, abuses of power and mismanagement of public funds.

And certainly PAS should stop playing custodians of public morals.

Just because of some cosmetics changes, it doesn't mean that the public will buy into everything PAS says. PAS must first demonstrate its sincerity and commitment to the welfare of the rakyat.

And what makes PAS think that it will make a better anchor party  in the opposition coalition Pakatan, instead of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)?  To me, with or without Anwar,  Parti Keadilan Rakyat is the better choice, being more easily acceptable to a wider spectrum of voters including the Chinese, Malays and Indians.

Nowadays, PAS is fond of saying that even non-Malays support PAS. Really, I don't think non-Malays support PAS because they like it, but because they have no choice since everyone wants change.

Therefore, it may not be a good idea for PAS to contest in Chinese majority constituencies like Bukit Bintang. PAS appeals mostly to the more conservative Malays.

The old system agreed to by the opposition coalition Pakatan whereby a DAP candidate contests in a Chinese majority constituency, a PKR candidate in a mixed constituency and a PAS candidate in Malay majority area works fine for me and only needs some tweaking.