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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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Is the ‘Islamic state’ a real issue?
James Wong Wing On
11:04am, Wed: opinion Like most the young undergraduates in political
science and economics, I was once thrilled and excited over absolute
and pure concepts taught in the lecture halls and tutorial rooms.
And I used them in my essays and assignments on comparative political
and economic systems with intellectual enthusiasm.
It paid off in the first year because I obtained good marks and grades
for ‘clarity of thought’ and for ‘possessing an analytical mind’.
However, as I moved into the second and third years, my essays and
assignments on similar topics or subjects were downgraded for using
those absolute and pure concepts without qualifications and
modifications.
As one of my lecturers remarked in one of my essays: ‘In assessing real
cases, you have to first study the real data, facts and figures before
you jump to conclusions".
I really did not understand why and I asked him to elaborate. He said
absolute and pure concepts or models like capitalism, socialism,
nationalism, imperialism or the neo-classical theory of supply and
demand etc are only useful to sharpen the mind and to improve the
clarity of thought. They do not necessarily exist in the real world on
earth.
Slowly, as I read more on the economic and political histories of
particular countries and continents, I started to appreciate what he
said. There has never been capitalism in its purest or most absolute
sense as constructed analytically by Karl Marx in his magnum opus, Das
Kapital. Capitalism and pre-capitalist societies existed side-by-side
or in juxtaposition even in Marx's time.
After the Western world experienced the Great Depression of the ’30s,
socialist and even Marxist ideas were grudgingly accepted and adopted
in the theory and practice of capitalist economics through
intellectually brave economists like Lord JM Keynes.
Similarly, the leader of the revolutionary Bolsheviks, VI Lenin ,
despite his earlier rhetoric against capitalist exploitation, had to
accept some management theories and principles taught by Americans like
Federick Taylor, so that factories in the then new socialist state
could be properly and productively managed.
Thus, confronted with these earthly realities, we can no longer
understand or make conclusions with pre-conceived concepts on models in
their most absolute or purest forms. We need to make qualifications and
modifications in the light of facts, figures and data in order to make
sounder and more realistic judgements.
Parliamentary strength
The debate on an ‘Islamic state’ sparked off by DAP's deputy president
Karpal Singh and his PAS counterpart, Abdul Hadi Awang in recent days,
really reminds me of my level of mind in those undergraduate days.
And the topic chosen by the secular lawyer and the holy preacher to
trade polemics against each other openly in the mainstream media, which
is alleged by themselves to be the propaganda tool of ‘the enemy’,
really sounds haprak (useless) to me.
Despite their opposite positions, both of them seem to think that
establishing an Islamic state is possible and imminent. So, while one
pushes hard for it, the other resists and opposes it as if an Islamic
state would be there the next morning when he wakes up.
They seem to have forgotten the fact that in order to amend the Federal
Constitution, a party or a coalition of parties needs at least
two-thirds majority in the Parliament, which means 129 or more seats
out of the total 193 seats.
In the last general elections, PAS was only allocated 64 parliamentary
seat by the Barisan Alternatif (BA) to contest. Even if it had won all
the seats it contested, it still would not be able to summon enough
parliamentary strength (129 seats) to amend the Federal Constitution to
allow for the establishment of an Islamic state. Anyhow, PAS only won
27 seats.
What about the next general elections? Is there a possibility that PAS
would get stronger? Indeed, PAS may get stronger vis-a-vis Umno, but it
will never get strong enough to amend the Federal Constitution to
establish an Islamic state even if it aspires to do so.
No basis
There is vast difference between an idealistic and unilateral
declaration of intention on one hand and hard realities on the other.
Theoretically, PAS could withdraw from BA and free itself from the
check-and-balance mechanism of the multilateral alliance and contest
all the 193 seats with the hope of winning 129 seats or more.
However, I really do not think any strategists in PAS would recommend
this option because if it was not working within the framework of the
BA, not only would the non-Muslims not vote for PAS, but also many
modern and urban Muslims. And don't forget, too, there are 48
parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak where PAS has always been
extremely weak.
So, what is the basis for the heated debate between Karpal Singh and
Hadi Awang? There is none. Let us not waste our time on them. Let them
syok sendiri in the mainstream media. For life is precious and short.
There are more important and pressing matters for us to attend to with
regards to the nation’s and people’s future.
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JAMES WONG WING ON, is a former Member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a
former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily. He read
political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne,
Australia. While in Sin Chew, he and a team of journalists won the top
awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.
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