PM Has Met with Top PAS Leaders

"The meetings are at the initial stage. There is no need to give other details as you will make all sorts of speculation," Abdullah told reporters after the launch of the National Cooperative Day here yesterday (verbatimly as reported by The Star online).

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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/7/21/nation/21876228&sec=nation
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I laud and welcome such a move. I have thought about this after the March 08 election and in fact I have written about it. Whether it is at the initial stage or later stage, it is still a positive move. And again, I agree with si Bedol.
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http://rozaimims.blogspot.com/2008/03/can-umno-and-pas-work-together.html
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But, having said that, I think si Bedol will always be a Bedol. I find it funny when he said “There is no need to give other details as you will make all sorts of speculation”. How can a PM expects people not to speculate when he gives us rooms to speculate?

To si Bedol, if you do not want people to speculate, then give details. You do not have to give the full details but sufficed with just the main issues discussed. Or if you intend not to divulge any information at the moment, then do no talk about speculation. You could just say, “I will not release any detail at this juncture” and full stop. People will speculate when they know something is going on but they do not have the information. For example, when people knew that election was just around the corner, so long as you do not tell them when you were going to dissolve the Parliament, people will speculate about it. They will only stop speculating when you gave them the date. The same thing goes, for example, recently when it was first reported that a DG of government department was detained for corruption. People would speculate because there were so many DGs in Malaysia but everything was put to rest when a day later, it was made it clear that it was the DG of Immigration.

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So, to si Bedol, what you have in mind was the other way around. People will not speculate when you given them the information (and not like what you thought).

Can UMNO and PAS work together?

After the dismal performance of BN in the just concluded general election last week, various parties have asked other parties to take full responsibility. There are statements made by various quarters that can spark the racial disharmony in Malaysia and disunited among BN coalition.

The annoucement by Penang government to scrap the NEP was taken as an attempt to keep on marginalise the Malays. Well, Malay marginalisation has been there in Penang, even during BN's administration in the state. Look at who occupied most part of Georgetown? Hardly you can see Penang Malays own a high end apartment or a double storey houses. Most of the Malays are living in the suburban area like Balik Pulau as well as in the mainland. So, when we talk about Malays being marginalised in Penang under the DAP administration, it is nothing new to me. The abolishment of NEP is just make the marginalisation worst and more obvious.

So, with the DAP making its presence felt in the Malaysian politics especially in Penang and Perak, I believe if no proactive action taken by Malay leaders, Malays' future is in danger and with no surprise, Malaysia will be the next Singapore with Malays become minority in trm of power though majority in term of population. It must be noted that even within BN coalition, they are not that happy among each other. An UMNO leader made a statement that MIC should not be given any ministerial post due to their poor performance in the general election. Well, I would say that all three main component parties in BN had a poor performance in the election. So, to just say that this political party or that party alone had been performing poorly could ony make things worst. It is like putting salt in the wound. For BN generaly and UMNO specifically, this is not the right time to point finger and to blame each other. They should be more focus and move on from now. To me, from the way I look at it, if DAP can prove to the Penangites (I mean the Chinese) that they can really admnister the state, I am not surprised to see that in the next general election, Chinese votes will go to DAP instead of MCA and Gerakan. Why not? Under BN coalition, MCA is not that great after all. They always have UMNO above them while for DAP they are on their own. So, what hapen then if the Chinese united under one roof i.e. DAP? What is going to happen to the Malays?

At the moment, Malays are being represented by three main political parties i.e. UMNO, PAS and PKR. While UMNO is fighting and protecting for the Malays (though some quarters doubt so), PAS is fighting for Islamic State, frankly speaking I do not see what PKR is fighting for except for Anwar Ibrahim. After all, that was the reason PKR was established.

If Malays can not be united because of different political agenda and remained disunited under three political parties, I do not see why Malays can still have the upperhand over other races in the future though Malays will still form the majority race in Malaysia. So, what's next?

For the interest of the Malays in Malaysia, I strongly believe that it is high time for the Malays political parties to sit together and see what best they can do to keep on protect the interest of the Malays? To me, they need to compromise on certain things and start to work together to make the Malays stronger. After all, united we stand.

I also believe the cause that PAS and UMNO are fighting for can still be achieved if they can compromise on certain things and put the Malays interest as their main agenda and put aside their ego. This I believe, while UMNO is fighting for development of the nation, it can still be done in Islamic way and making Malaysia a real Islamic country. When I said Islamic way, of course, I am not referring to Islam Hadhari. I mean the real Islam. There is a hadith from Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which means: "Work for your worldly as if you are going to live forever and work for your hereater as if you are going to die tomorrow". This hadith is best to describe what I have in my mind while writing this article. The hadith illustrates the importance of having the worldly development without neglecting the Islamic value. In another hadith, the Prophet (pbuh) said (meaning): "It is not the best among you those who leave their world life while for the hereafter and those who leave the hereafter for their world life". So, do not you think that PAS and UMNO can best work together for Islam and Malays? PAS leaders must understand that they are highly unlikely can succeed in establishing the Islamic country. As for UMNO, they are fully aware that they are not that Islamic as what they claim all this while. So, again, I strongly believe that by combining into one party, UMNO and PAS can reach their agenda together while keeping the Malays interest intact. But of course, in doing so, they need to compromise on certain things. I think UMNO and PAS, they compliment each other.

As for PKR, I think we still need a Malay opposition party to ensure check and balance. If they do not change their cause of fighting, I do not see the relevancy of PKR in Malaysia political arena especially for Malays.

Having said all of the above, I am not saying that UMNO and PAS should be united and neglecting other BN coalition such as MCA, MIC, etc, etc. After all, we are living in a multi racial country. So, definitely we need to help each other and work together. So, what I am suggesting here is for UMNO and PAS to joint force under one name and at the same time work together with MCA and MIC and other BN coalition parties to form a more stabilised and successful Malaysia.

This is my two sen thought.