Friday, 13-Feb-2004 7:38 AM

HARAKAH ENGLISH SECTION

David against Goliath

Raja Petra Kamarudin

One-time Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad considers Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) more of a threat to Umno compared to Parti Keadilan Nasional (keADILan). Religion, lamented Mahathir, is based on faith and cannot be rationalised. Man-made ideologies are easier to defeat, said Mahathir, but how does one defeat faith? Faith is so intangible; it is a matter of the heart. PAS, therefore, is the real danger to Umno, not keADILan, reckons Mahathir. KeADILan can easily be wiped out.

True and not true. True that PAS touches your heart while keADILan deals with your head. PAS reminds you that God ordained certain guidelines for humanity that should not be challenged or disputed while keADILan expounds “modern” concepts such as freedom, fundamental rights, liberties and human decency. However, while PAS and keADILan may be singing different lyrics, the song is basically the same. The message does not differ; both talk about justice.

If at all PAS can be found wanting, it is the manner in which their message is delivered. You could say PAS does not offer any room for us to rationalise and demands that one complies in the name of God. KeADILan, however, invites us to think and to rationalise as to whether what is happening in the country is right and proper. If not, then let us go for change -- Reformation or Reformasi.

Unfortunately, humankind resents being “force-fed”. They prefer to be convinced through rational arguments. They like to think they are allowed to make choices and are not being pushed into accepting anything against their will though they may actually believe in what you are propagating. And this is PAS’ weakness if I may be permitted to call it that.

KeADILan does not tell the voters they have no choice in the matter and that supporting the party is must, something that God decreed. To be fair, PAS may not officially be adopting this line, but some of the penceramah that speak at the ceramahs do say this. And this is what the people do not like to hear. They prefer to be politely told, “Please support us because we stand for noble ideals”, not “You must support us because you are a Muslim and it is your Islamic duty.”

But the PAS line, albeit unofficial, is not a total loss though. PAS is fortunate in that it has a captive audience. There are still many devout Muslims who believe in God and God’s teachings, in particular Islam. So they support PAS out of their Islamic duty. It is actually a very good “marketing line”. But then, the not so devout Muslims, or the non-Muslims, would be turned off by this argument.

What, however, would be keADILan’s “marketing line”? How would it convince the voters it is the party for them? KeADILan’s situation is not as peachy as PAS’. It cannot tell the voters, “You must support us if you support justice”. KeADILan needs to do harder selling than PAS has to. It needs to win the voters over by persuasion and not obligation. Not so easy is it?

But then PAS has a ceiling. It has a narrow market segment and once it reaches saturation point there would be only organic growth to look forward to. And that, to a certain extent, has already happened. For keADILan, though, the sky is the limit. Since keADILan has a broader agenda it has no limit as to how far it can go. It can cut across all cultural boundaries and reach a wide segment of society. In short, PAS is a party of today while keADILan is the party for tomorrow. And Umno knows this.

But how far into the future would keADILan need to move to reach that tomorrow? This is the three billion Ringgit question; the amount of money Barisan Nasional will be spending the coming General Election to be able to stay in office. Umno has practically given up on PAS. No doubt it issues rhetoric about how it will recapture Kelantan and Terengganu. But, in its heart, Umno knows this would be an almost impossible feat. It is keADILan that Umno is watching, the party that may one day be the kingpin of the opposition coalition.

The keADILan members and leaders must realise that they cannot compare PAS’ and keADILan’s performance the last election and use this as the yardstick to measure PAS’ success and keADILan’s “failure”.  PAS has been around since 1951 and in the 1999 General Election it was already 48 years old. KeADILan was then merely six months old. For all intents and purposes, it was still a breast-feeding infant.

No doubt PAS performed very well in 1999. In its heyday in 1986, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) won 24 Parliament seats. PAS, in 1999, outdid this by winning 27 seats plus two states. However, in that same 1986 election, PAS won only one seat resulting in the party going through a reformation after the resignation of its President, Asri. 1986, the year that saw DAP reach its peak almost saw the death of PAS. But PAS did not die. It bounced back in 1990 stronger and better by capturing Kelantan and thereafter did not look back until it is where it is today.

PAS and keADILan must both realise that their fortunes are tied to each other. PAS can bring the opposition coalition only to a certain level. Thereafter, keADILan needs to carry the torch. It is like a relay race. The first runner sprints with the baton. Then he has to hand it to the next runner to continue the race. But both runners need to be fast. If one falters, then both will lose the race.

BN can be equated to a Goliath. The opposition parties must not only realise this but must also realise that it is not also a Goliath but a mere David. History has shown us, though, that David can defeat Goliath. But David defeated Goliath not by unarmed combat or a head-on clash but by a well-aimed slingshot between the eyes delivered from a respectable distance. This the opposition must understand if it does want not to get beaten to a pulp. In short, just like David, it is not enough that the opposition works hard but it must also work smart.