If Parti Islam Se-Malaysia intends to bank on former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s political capital, it would find that there will be limited upside, says ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s Norshahril Saat.
If this is a political reconciliation of sorts, things have indeed come full circle. Relations between Mahathir and his sworn enemy were frosty when he was Malaysia’s prime minister between 1981 and 2003, and 2018 and 2020.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Mahathir considered PAS a “backward” political party, and disapproved of its calls for an Islamic state and a shariah criminal code. PAS, through its leaders Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Fadzil Noor and Abdul Hadi Awang, championed hudud laws that included punishments such as amputation, stoning and the death penalty.
At 97, Mahathir continues to garner respect from the international community, particularly in Japan and South Korea, and is regularly invited to speak at international forums. Moreover, the Islamic world remembers Mahathir for speaking up for the Muslims during the Bosnian war and the Palestinian issue.
On the other hand, PAS wants to ride on Mahathir’s stature to alter its image as an anti-development party led by conservative clerics. The four chief ministers leading PAS today are different from their ulama predecessors such as the late Nik Aziz , Abdul Hadi Awang and the late Azizan Abdul Razak .
Moreover, Mahathir and PAS must reconcile two perceived antithetical concepts which contributed to their past squabbles: Mahathir’s nationalist capitalism and PAS’ Islamic-based development model.Commentary: PM Anwar’s sidestepping of ethnic policies not a way to gain ground in Malaysia
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Commentary: Malaysia sets it sights on wealthy investorsMalaysia may want to distinguish itself as a cut above the rest, but has it misread the market? The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research’s Dr Shankaran Nambiar weighs in.
Read more »
Commentary: Hollywood's piracy problem on TikTok - if you can’t beat them, use themSome people are publishing entire movies, in bite-size clips, on the platform. Studios needn’t worry, though, says Bobby Ghosh for Bloomberg Opinion.
Read more »
Commentary: Why India worries about the push for a separate Sikh stateIndian governments past and present only have themselves to blame for tensions, renewed by a separatist leader’s murder in Canada, says Karishma Vaswani for Bloomberg Opinion.
Read more »
Commentary: Parents, here’s how to respond when your child swearsIt is almost impossible for parents to monitor and control their children’s exposure to swearing, say education researchers.
Read more »
Commentary: Should we really be listening to leaders’ advice on work-life balance?Work-life balance advice from business leaders might not resonate with the rank and file, but it’s more feasible now to strike the balance you want, says career consultant Sze-Yen Chee.
Read more »
Small bottle, big roaches: Large insects found in soy sauce bottle horrifies woman in MalaysiaSoy sauce is a great way to add flavour to any dish - but this bottle might have had too much 'flavour' for her liking. A woman in Malaysia discovered three large cockroaches soaking in her bottle of soy sauce after she had poured some of its contents into her meal, she shared in a TikTok video uploaded on Wednesday...
Read more »