UMNO-PAS Muzakarah

The Muzakarah issue is getting hotter and hotter as the day goes by. A local tabloid has reported that PAS is skeptical of the UMNO's initiative for fear of being short-changed a second time round. Ustaz Nik Aziz, PAS Spiritual Leader, has refused to participate in such talks and urged the Islamic party to pull out altogether citing a possibility of its own internal break-up if pursued further. He expressed his concerns of the talks being used by UMNO as political gimmicks with the aim of destructing PAS. Amidst strong resistance from Nik Aziz, the Party's Ulama Shura Council has authorised PAS leadership to engage in the talks with UMNO to enhance Muslim unity. The lone dissenting voice of Nik Aziz in the Shura Council certainly signals some cracks within the PAS ranks, however minimal. Husam Musa, PAS Vice President, is also seen to be negative about the dialogue.

Ironically Khalid Samad, a PAS MP who formed the delegation to meet Abdullah Badawi of UMNO, has revealed that the key issue discussed was a possibility of PAS joining the BN to form a Selangor State Government with Dr Hasan Ali (of PAS) to be appointed as the Chief Minister. Khalid has further alleged that Abdullah was trying to undermine and subvert the People's Front's (PR) cohesiveness and to diffuse possible defections of BN's MPs to PR.

I found it interesting to note that in between the lines, Khalid declared that PAS attendance at the talks was to hear what Abdullah or UMNO has to offer to PAS. See that ? Politics is after all an art of the impossibles.