Is there hope for Gerakan Harapan Baru?

Following the recent PAS muktamar before Ramadan and the subsequent victory of the conservative ulama, there came to exist a disenchanted, relatively less conservative faction (some may call them “progressive”) within PAS.

It should therefore come as no surprise to anyone that this faction would seek to leave PAS and establish their own political movement called the “Gerakan Harapan Baru” (GHB). However, before we throw our hats (or kopiahs) in the air and herald a new era in Islamist politics, I highly suggest we deeply scrutinise this new party and determine whether or not they are, in fact, just old wine in new bottles.

In order to answer this, we must first ask the question – did the GHB leave PAS due to ideological differences? Let us consider the situation. The luminary of PAS, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat died in February. Nik Aziz was, for decades, the star of PAS. While he did produce some fatwas (opinions) which showed his misogynistic and anachronistic outlook on life, he has an unflinching distaste for Umno politics. For this, we have to salute him and give due credit. He could have easily sold out the ideals of PAS anytime for the sake of “Malay Unity” [in reality, the licence for certain groups to rob the country (including the Malays) blind] but he did not. Despite my disagreement with his approach to Islam, I acknowledge his integrity and humility. This is something which Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and his faction simply do not share.

When Nik Aziz passed on, this left the way wide open for Hadi and his people. For long, they had sought after the jewel in the crown of Malaysian politics – the elusive unity of Umno and PAS. These parties are the two biggest parties in terms of Malay support and if they were to unite, they would be unstoppable. It did not matter to Hadi that Islam (even in his Ttaditionalist understanding) simply had no room for Malay nationalism (or any other kind for that matter). It did not even matter to Hadi that in the past, he had deemed that voting for Umno would render a Muslim a kafir, or infidel. In the quest for power, even one’s religion becomes a mere pawn, to be played as and when necessary in order fulfil that lust. With Nik Aziz gone, for the first time this dream become feasible.

It is this ideological issue which the PAS progressives’ opposed. Mohamad Sabu, or Mat Sabu, also has a long-standing grudge with Umno and would not tolerate any kind unity move with them. Khalid Samad is another man of integrity and would not sell out. These personalities would not see eye to eye with Hadi and his boys and so they realized their future would be elsewhere. Hence GHB was conceived and would be officially launched on the September 14 this year.

However, this still leaves us with the question – is GHB a new party, philosophically speaking? We must remember that political parties undergo ideological shifts (some may call them “evolution”) all the time. The British Labour party is now talking about returning to its socialist roots after decades of being ideologically forced by Tony Blair to become conservative or even imperialist. With the death of Nik Aziz, PAS is on the cusp of becoming nationalist. Hadi Awang and Datuk Harun Din’s defence of the prime minister when he was accused of harbouring funds from 1MDB is a clear indication of this. So to me, PAS Progressives (now GHB) were not seeking an ideological shift as such but rather an ideological consolidation. They wanted PAS to remain the way it always was and thus retain its position in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

This is a laudable move on the part of PAS Progressives and when they leave PAS to form GHB, it showed courage of conviction. However, it still leaves us with the same problem – the role of sharia law. In time, it is this perennial issue which would come to haunt the new coalition, Pakatan Rakyat 2.0. When DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng visited London earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview him and he declared that the PAS progressives agreed to put hudud on the backburner, meaning they would only contemplate hudud when Malaysia had reached a certain standard of governance and when the nation experienced a certain level of justice.

Is this really a good enough condition to work with PAS progressives, soon to be GHB? To my mind, no.  It would be simply laying the ground for a repeat experience of Pakatan Rakyat 1.0. Sharia law will always be the barrier from national unity simply because it is an oppressive, supremacist law. Mat Sabu, despite his “progressive” outlook now, once answered a question from the floor (ok, the questioner was yours truly!) that he would in fact, extract full measure of the law on “deviant sects” of Islam. This was the ironic level of the man’s tolerance. Has Mat Sabu now changed his mind? Unlikely. He is simply seeking a shift back to the old PAS, not towards a newer, more progressive one.

The future of our nation depends on unity. We cannot be united with those who seek to oppress and control others. We must therefore investigate GHB fully before committing ourselves. – August 12, 2015. 

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.