PAS breakaway party about to be launched

This was a long time coming. The ulama’ faction in PAS and what is referred to as the Erdogan group a.k.a. the liberals a.k.a. the Anwarinas were already heading for a split many party conventions ago. So it was a matter of time before the marriage that was on the rocks finally ends.

The problem is PAS is split between the pro-Anwar faction and the anti-Anwar faction. This was basically what happened to Umno in 1997-1998. The pro-Anwar faction in Umno clashed with the pro-Mahathir faction and thereafter PKR (then called PKN) and Barisan Alternatif (the alternative to Barisan Nasional) were born.

In 1997-1998, Anwar was the catalyst to the problems in Umno. Today, Anwar is also the catalyst to the problems in PAS. And we may soon see what happened to Umno in 1997-1998 happening again, but this time to PAS.

There is going to be an exodus from PAS and the Erdogan group a.k.a. the liberals a.k.a. the Anwarinas are going to form a new party called PASMA, or ‘Pas Baru’ if you wish. They have already started meeting and are about to launch a road show to recruit converts.

This is not something that has not happened before. PAS itself is a splinter of Umno when the ulama’ faction left Umno just before Merdeka to form a new Islamic party (five years after Umno was formed). Then, later on, the more liberal, disgruntled group in PAS, led by Mohamad Nasir, left the party to form Berjasa in 1977. In 1983, another more liberal, disgruntled group in PAS, led by Asri Muda, left the party to form Hamim.

So you see, every time PAS becomes a bit too Islamic, the liberals leave the party to form a new party. First it was Berjasa, then Hamim, and now PASMA. Maybe some of you have never heard of PAS-breakaway Berjasa (formed in 1977) or PAS-breakaway Hamim (formed in 1983). Well, probably by 2050 many Malaysians will have never heard of PAS-breakaway PASMA as well (registered just three weeks ago).
Currently, PASMA is registered as an association, like ADIL was in 1999. But in just a few months ADIL the NGO became Parti Keadilan Nasional the political party. And that is the same route PASMA will be taking.

What is Anwar Ibrahim’s greatest achievement? How will Anwar be remembered? He will be remembered as the person who broke up and weakened the largest and strongest Malay party, Umno, and then broke up and weakened the largest and strongest Muslim party, PAS.

And with that PKR will emerge as the largest and strongest multi-racial party where race, religion and feudalism (royalty), the 3Rs of Malaysian politics, will no longer be the culture of Malaysian politics.
I suppose we should hail this as the new dawn of Malaysian politics where Malays, Chinese, Indians, ‘others’, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and so on will no longer exist and what will replace all that will be Malaysians not identified by race and who are free to believe that God does not exist and the so-called holy books are works of fiction.

I suppose in the pursuit of progress and modernisation we need to abandon the shackles of race, religion and feudalism and, for that to happen, race-based, religion-based and feudalism-based politics has to end. Hence political parties such as Umno, MCA, MIC, PAS, etc., need to be exterminated and replaced with non-race-based and non-religion-based parties.

Raja Petra Kamarudin