Stay the course or abandon ship?

Following the recent public “spat” between Hu Pang Chau, the National PAS Supporters Congress chairman, and Kelantan state exco member Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan over “actions” against non-Muslims, a logical question to ask now is: Should the supporters (who are all non-Muslims) continue supporting PAS?

After all Takiyuddin has accused Hu of having “bad intentions” for bringing to the media cases of  non-Muslims being “penalised” by the Kota Baru Municipal Council for alleged indecent behaviour. Then there was the unisex salon issue, also in Kota Baru, involving the enforcement of  gender segregation rules.

 

Hu’s response then was he acted “in the interest of non-Muslims” and was “defending” their rights. So back to the earlier question: should the congress and Hu in particular stay the course?

 

“My relationship with Takiyuddin is not affected by the issues. We are like crew members of a same ship, holding on to the belief of the PAS constitution and the same struggle. The only difference perhaps is on the approach taken,” said Hu in an email response to fz.com.

 

Meaning he and the congress will continue to stick with PAS. To his critics that is expected. Hu has always been accused of being a “PAS apologist”.

 

Hu nevertheless is unfazed by such accusation. “As long as the PAS constitution remains unchanged, I will continue to support the party,” said Hu, adding: “I dare say I understand the objective and PAS struggle better than many party members or leaders”.

 

To Hu, PAS’ struggle is based “on true Islamic principle” and the party is fair to all – Muslims and non-Muslims which is “guaranteed” by the party constitution. Hence his support as long as the constitution remains as it is.

 

And he is confident the congress is playing the role of taking care of non-Muslims interests. “We have representatives in the elections and political bureaus or lajnah. Two most important lajnahin PAS,” he said.

 

Still, are the representatives truly “functional”?  “If our views and proposals are not accepted why should PAS include us in the bureaus?” was Hu’s reply.

 

PAS has always worked towards reaching out to non-Muslims, especially the Chinese community. In the 1980s, the party established what was known as the Chinese Consultative Council. In 2004, the PAS Supporters Club was set up. And in 2010, the club was upgraded to become the current congress as PAS sought to get more non-Muslims to play a bigger role in the party.

 

The congress is placed on par with the other wings in PAS, namely Dewan Ulama, Dewan Pemuda, Dewan Muslimah – hence its official name Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS. And it boasts some 30,000 members nationwide, comprising Indians, Chinese, Iban and Malaysians of Thai descent.