SHAH ALAM, Feb 19 — PAS will not gain the trust and support of Malays if it still does not understand their economic woes and find solutions, a Malay group said today. Teras Pengupayaan Melayu (Teras) chairman Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid claimed that PAS was still unable to gain maximum support from its core voters and warned the Islamist party from dismissing the economic problems faced by the various Malay communities in the country.
“PAS cannot guarantee Malays their rights if the party did not see Malays (and their concerns) in its proper breakdown.
“One cannot generalise the problems of Malays...there’s different categories — the needs of Malay farmers differ from the needs of Malay fisherman and Malay businessman,” said Mohd Azmi during a PAS panel discussion today on Malay rights.
The Teras chairman pointed out that Malays still remained at the bottom of Malaysia’s economic pie, and that PAS has yet to effectively deal with the ongoing issue.
Mohd Azmi blamed Umno for the erosion of Malay rights as well as a skewed, “cosmetic” practice of Islam in the country.
“Under Umno, the position of Islam is merely cosmetic..it is not used as a criteria in daily decision-making processes,” he added.
With dwindling Malay Muslim support, PAS today affirmed its commitment to prioritise the dominant Islamic race in the country.
PAS spiritual advisor Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat claimed that the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition partner had never forsaken Malay rights and that it was Umno’s economic policies which had caused division and unequal distribution among various races in Malaysia.
“For PAS, Malays need to be prioritised in our agenda because they are the dominant Islamic race in Malaysia.
“Umno has not been upholding Islam or the Malays,” he said today during an opening address at a PAS convention on empowering Malays here this morning.
The convention aims to silence critics who have derided the party for being anti-Malay in aligning themselves with the DAP.
Nik Aziz said that while Islam was not race-based, as an Islamic party in Malaysia, PAS would prioritise Malays because they were the country’s foremost Muslim community.
The convention today, dubbed “Konvensyen Nasional Pengupayaan Bangsa” (National Race Empowerment Convention) is seen as PAS’ attempt to attract Malay voter support which has been declining in recent years.
The convention will be attended by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who will issue a list of the party’s guarantees to the Bumiputera community in his keynote address later.
PR has seen a decline in Malay support since July 2009, when a by-election in the 99 per cent Malay seat of Manek Urai, Kelantan saw a previous 1,352-vote majority in the PAS stronghold drop to a wafer-thin 65.
Malays continued to swing towards Barisan Nasional (BN) in subsequent polls, from around seven to 10 per cent, allowing the ruling coalition to grab Hulu Selangor and Galas from PR.
The most recent by-election in Tenang, Johor, saw PR fail to make any headway among the mainly Felda Malays as BN swept over 83 per cent of Malay votes to increase its majority by over 1,200 votes.
- themalaysianinsider
“PAS cannot guarantee Malays their rights if the party did not see Malays (and their concerns) in its proper breakdown.
“One cannot generalise the problems of Malays...there’s different categories — the needs of Malay farmers differ from the needs of Malay fisherman and Malay businessman,” said Mohd Azmi during a PAS panel discussion today on Malay rights.
The Teras chairman pointed out that Malays still remained at the bottom of Malaysia’s economic pie, and that PAS has yet to effectively deal with the ongoing issue.
Mohd Azmi blamed Umno for the erosion of Malay rights as well as a skewed, “cosmetic” practice of Islam in the country.
“Under Umno, the position of Islam is merely cosmetic..it is not used as a criteria in daily decision-making processes,” he added.
With dwindling Malay Muslim support, PAS today affirmed its commitment to prioritise the dominant Islamic race in the country.
PAS spiritual advisor Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat claimed that the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition partner had never forsaken Malay rights and that it was Umno’s economic policies which had caused division and unequal distribution among various races in Malaysia.
“For PAS, Malays need to be prioritised in our agenda because they are the dominant Islamic race in Malaysia.
“Umno has not been upholding Islam or the Malays,” he said today during an opening address at a PAS convention on empowering Malays here this morning.
The convention aims to silence critics who have derided the party for being anti-Malay in aligning themselves with the DAP.
Nik Aziz said that while Islam was not race-based, as an Islamic party in Malaysia, PAS would prioritise Malays because they were the country’s foremost Muslim community.
The convention today, dubbed “Konvensyen Nasional Pengupayaan Bangsa” (National Race Empowerment Convention) is seen as PAS’ attempt to attract Malay voter support which has been declining in recent years.
The convention will be attended by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who will issue a list of the party’s guarantees to the Bumiputera community in his keynote address later.
PR has seen a decline in Malay support since July 2009, when a by-election in the 99 per cent Malay seat of Manek Urai, Kelantan saw a previous 1,352-vote majority in the PAS stronghold drop to a wafer-thin 65.
Malays continued to swing towards Barisan Nasional (BN) in subsequent polls, from around seven to 10 per cent, allowing the ruling coalition to grab Hulu Selangor and Galas from PR.
The most recent by-election in Tenang, Johor, saw PR fail to make any headway among the mainly Felda Malays as BN swept over 83 per cent of Malay votes to increase its majority by over 1,200 votes.
- themalaysianinsider
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