Searching for an opportunistic pact

PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang

IT looks like Malaysian politics is increasingly about forming alliances simply to gain power to become prime minister and ministers.

The cliche that there are no permanent enemies or friends in politics is simply a euphemism for discarding principles and honour, and merely being opportunists.

Grassroots party members, who join a political party for what it stands for, will eventually realise that it’s only the leaders who will eventually benefit from this power play.

If religion must be used to justify their actions, these politicians in religious clothing will unashamedly do it.

After all, they have even justified corruption.

So, last week, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang said he was planning to meet Pejuang chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to discuss the possibility of the two parties working together.

He reportedly said the meeting will be arranged soon to discuss and forge cooperation for the sake of the unity of the ummah. We’ve heard this line before, of course.

Pejuang president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir has also said that his father was approached by Bersatu chief Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to discuss a partnership between the two parties.

Abdul Hadi has spent decades attacking Umno, and those of us old enough will remember how these two parties were so divided that the Islamist party once labelled Umno an infidel.

Then, in 1998, the DAP and PAS hugged each other to form the Barisan Alternatif coalition, but the alliance, which included PKR, collapsed in 2004.

DAP leaders organised trips to Kelantan to prove it was a model state, and at some ceramah, its supporters even sounded apologetic, saying there was no reason for anyone to be fearful of hudud unless they were corrupt Barisan Nasional leaders.

Fast forward to today, and Abdul Hadi – who delivered the infamous Amanat Hadi at Kampung Banggol, Kuala Terengganu, in 1981 and called fellow Muslims infidels due to differing political beliefs – is now hugging and kissing Umno leaders under the Muafakat Nasional platform.

But then, it decided to be closer to Muhyiddin to be under the Perikatan Nasional coalition, and completely forgot about its previous fling with Umno.

Now, like political acrobats, Abdul Hadi says he wants to meet with Dr Mahathir, which has certainly amused the latter as Pejuang lost all the 46 seats it contested in the Johor state election. Oh, and the party lost its deposits, too.

If there’s one thing that binds many of these relic politicians, it’s their detachment from the new realities on the ground, thinking their consistent political compromises for power would continue to be swallowed by a more informed electorate.

Such a realignment – not just by PAS leaders, but also PKR leaders like Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim – in trying to extract statutory declarations from Umno leaders to come to power, is simply unacceptable. To be blunt, it’s nauseating and an insult to his party members.

The bottom line is, party members who spend their time and money on the party and believe in its struggles, get nothing, and invariably only end up helping their leaders become ministers.

It’s hard to expect Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Dr Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Anwar, Abdul Hadi or Lim Kit Siang to change. At least, Kit Siang has retired, although no one should imagine Lim Guan Eng as DAP chairman to be playing a lesser role.

They are products of their time. Don’t expect them to change at their age.

No one in their parties, surrounded by their circle of sycophants, would dare ask them to vacate the stage.

Any potential dissidents will find themselves getting the sack, even though their leaders preach freedom of speech.

Hardcore Opposition supporters would naturally want to see a unity front take on Barisan.

But the reality is that when parties have different dreams, they will eventually have a nightmare trying to stay together.

Like the present Federal Government, where the bond between Barisan, PAS and Bersatu has hit a brick wall of reality. This is a relationship that has gone awry, and the only way out is an official dissolution, and then a return to the people to decide in a general election.

Malaysians are politically fatigued. The process of casting their vote has become a chore. Please don’t tell us that it’s our responsibility – to elect politicians to power so they can stop our cars and ambulances while their convoy of cars whizz past us to demonstrate their self-importance.

Most of us are disillusioned by these politicians and their condescending manner, and if they think another realignment of Opposition parties will work, then they must be really disconnected.

That’s the problem with listening to themselves and their yes-men too often.