Published August 16, 2008

PAS holds back from endorsing Anwar outright

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(IPOH) Malaysia's biggest Islamist party held back on declaring outright support for de facto Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in his bid to topple the ruling coalition, saying that he must first win a seat in Parliament.

The Parti Islam Se- Malaysia (PAS) national assembly, which started yesterday, had been expected to throw its weight behind Mr Anwar despite his looming trial on sodomy charges and concerns within the party that it was sacrificing its Islamic values.

Mr Anwar, who is due to run in a parliamentary by-election on Aug 26, has said that he will bring down Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's coalition by Sept 16 with the help of support from across the political spectrum.

'When he wins the by-election and there is a change (of government) in Parliament, we will discuss,' PAS president Hadi Awang told reporters when asked about his party's stand on Mr Anwar's bid for power.

Mr Anwar was charged with sodomy and granted bail by a court earlier this month, allowing him to campaign in the by-election on which he is staking his political future after an enforced 10-year absence.

Mr Anwar, 61, who has been imprisoned before on sodomy and corruption charges and who was barred from office until April this year, has denied the charge that he had sex with a 23-year-old male aide.



Yesterday, Mr Anwar downplayed the lack of a clear endorsement from the PAS, a key constituent of his rainbow coalition that also includes the ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party.

'It is quite okay. It is normal for staunch supporters of PAS to want that,' he said when asked about calls from some PAS members for the party's president to lead the country instead.

The Islamist party's stand highlights the rift within the multi-ethnic opposition alliance which some analysts say could scuttle its efforts to take power from the coalition which has ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain.

Nasharudin Mat Isa, PAS deputy president, admitted that the party is split over its position in the alliance, which has 82 seats in Parliament against the government's 140, and party members felt that its Islamist agenda was being ignored.

'The sentiment is there . . . It looks as if it (PAS) has been sidelined,' Mr Nasharudin told reporters.

While PAS has the largest membership of the three opposition parties in Mr Anwar's coalition, it has the fewest MPs in Parliament with 23; and the party has struggled to establish itself outside its core areas of support due to its Islamist agenda.

'PAS is in a difficult position. They cannot really set the agenda. Structurally, they are following Anwar. The main worry is they can't control their destiny,' said Bridget Welsh, assistant professor of South-east Asian studies at Johns Hopkins University. -- Reuters