Umno leaders come out of the woodwork to express their sadness at PAS roadblocks Umno must clear before Malay unity talks could proceed. The national leaders have had their say, and now lesser leaders raise the decibel of Umno indignation. 

But those outside the immediate circle of leaders relishing the sound of their own voices care not a whit. After all, it was Umno which wanted Malay unity talks for a narrow selfish interest of restoring its own credibility with the Malay ground. 

But for talks to be held, there must be, as Umno president and Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad insists often globally, a level-playing ground. In Umno's and PAS' view, there is not. This is not as paradoxical as it appears. Both Umno and PAS insists the ground tilts against them. Umno would not have wanted the talks, nor PAS impose conditions that cannot be met, otherwise. 

Neither Umno nor PAS is clear what it seek. One does not want to meet the other's demands, and both would regard the other's concession a victory for the other. So, the high volume of political noise about PAS' intransigence would continue in the mainstream media as strenuously as PAS demanding that its conditions be met. 

PAS has now thrown the ball into the Umno court. Umno cannot kick it back without compromising the government it leads. The issues raised are resolvable. The attorney-general as public prosecutor can initiate and discontinue prosecutions at his (or, as now, her) absolute discretion. 

Article 145 of the Federal Constitution provides for that. The Anwar Ibrahim affair upsets not only the government's, but the Malay's, equilibrium. It can be resolved, if Dr Mahathir would give the nod, by withdrawing from Anwar's appeals. But his administration is so deeply involved in his excoriation that it is as painful to retract as to move forward. 

Neither committed 

PAS makes it a condition of the Malay unity talks that the government eschew plans to remove the word ‘Islam’ from the name of political parties. Is it that important for a party that has used the name for 50 years? The law surely cannot be retroactive without raising other political difficulties for the government. 

The law would then apply from the day it is gazetted and surely would apply only to those political parties that apply for registration after that day. This would make PAS the only political party legally to have the word ‘Islam’ in its name. As a theocratically inclined party, it strengthens its position as the only Islamic party around. PAS did not think through this as Umno customarily does.

PAS also should not have insisted upon the federal government's withdrawal of oil royalties to Terengganu. Especially when this is bringing the state government to its knees and funds allotted for its administration based on the oil royalties now does not come. But it did because of concerns within the PAS leadership about the wisdom of the Malay unity talks as constituted. 

Neither Umno nor PAS, in other words, is committed to the talks. But neither could say it is not. But having thought it had PAS over a barrel, Umno finds itself mired in confusion and occasional bad faith. Umno viewed this politically when the Malay shifts from him for cultural reasons. 

With an important segment of Malay opinion with neither but with the National Justice Party or Keadilan, the joker in the Malay unity pack, either of both could lose ground. 

Agenda widened 

The hidden Umno agenda was, and is, to seduce PAS into the government. Important segments in PAS, including many once Umno members, want closer ties with Umno. Both are nervous of Keadilan's potential strength, though if you look at how it now is, you would not think so. But its icon, Anwar Ibrahim, has a stranglehold on the Malay cultural ground than any outside, in the Barisan Nasional or in the opposition, can challenge the Umno-PAS worldview. 

The Umno and PAS dilemma is to ensure Malay unity by ignoring Anwar Ibrahim and Keadilan. If Umno is so concerned about Malay unity, it could have seized the advantage by pre-empting PAS demands and conceding it in the larger Malay interest. PAS could not but go along, for if it had not, it would have lost ground, if not to Umno then to Keadilan. 

So it widened the agenda - there is as much apprehension in Umno ranks about the proposed talks as in PAS. It is, after all, a meeting of two diametrically opposed worldviews about Malay unity. Umno believed Malay unity could only be with a strong cultural base, and PAS with a strong religious base. Umno is nervous now because that cultural ground shifts away from it. PAS was once the religious wing of Umno, from which it broke away in 1951. 

The differences do not end there. Umno when formed in 1946 believed in a regional confederation of the Malay peoples. This collapsed five years later when its founding president, Onn Jaffar, was forced out and the new president, Tunku Abdul Rahman, focused its reach within the Malay peninsula. 

The religious wing disagreed, and provided one more reason why it left Umno. This Umno belief in a self-contained national Malay state cut off from the other Malay states conflicts with the Melayu Raya worldview, which PAS espouses, of a Malay state within a larger Malay entity. This remains as true 50 years later.

This is not emphasised, but must be accepted before talks move forward. Keadilan's appearance challenges both worldviews, and makes it more appealing to the Malay cultural ground by synthesising the two views into a composite third view which has much sympathy with the Malay. 

Especially when it is sidelined, as now, in this search for Malay unity.