KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — PAS is reviving plans to make its non-Muslim supporters’ club a wing with its own constitution, amid reports of a new Indian party drawing away its supporters.
PAS Supporters' Club (PSC) president Hu Pang Chow said many of its members are believed to have joined the Makkal Sakti party, which is widely believed to be backed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The PSC was set up in 2004 with 100 non-Muslim members, but claimed membership of almost 50,000 soon after the opposition made big gains in last year's general election.
However, the slow process of turning the club into a full wing and Najib's earnest promises to help the Indian community have led to many members leaving.
The fight for Indian support also reflects how members of the minority community, once solid supporters of the MIC, are now open to backing other parties after judging that the MIC had failed to protect their interests.
Makkal Sakti president R.S. Thanenthirran declined to reveal how many PSC members had defected to his party since it was formed in May.
But he said the 60,000-strong party will “continue to champion the marginalised and this will naturally become an attraction to many”.
“I will not be surprised if more people throw their support behind those that can deliver,” he told The Straits Times.
The idea of turning the PSC into an official wing of PAS was mooted last year, but some within the club feel that the process is taking too long, said Hu.
“They will turn to parties that they feel can do something for them,” Hu said.
The plan to absorb the club fully into PAS was given fresh impetus after many Indian voters turned away from voting for PAS in the recent Bagan Pinang by-election, awarding the Umno candidate a big victory, party insiders say.
Members of the PSC, unlike ordinary members of the Islamist party, do not have voting rights in the party elections held every two years.
PAS currently has three wings — the ulama, women and youth wings, and a committee has been set up by the Islamist party to decide on formalising the PSC.
Hu said one way to make it more attractive to non-Muslims would be for its members to be allowed to run in general elections or by-elections.
But when asked if these members would be given the right to vote during PAS elections, he said that remains unclear.
PAS National Unity Committee chief Mujahid Rawa, who is in charge of the club and its absorption into the party, said however that he is confident the PSC will be turned into a wing by the end of the year.
“I would not say it will be a fully fledged wing but it will stand on its own, have a clear structure and its own constitution,” he told The Straits Times.
One sticking point is the constitutional constraint that only Muslims are allowed to be members of PAS.
But Mujahid said: “It's quite complicated but the committee has come up with something.”
He declined to elaborate.
Political analyst James Chin, of Monash University Malaysia Campus, said of the plan to turn the club into a new PAS wing: “It will happen. PAS has every incentive to do it, otherwise it will lose support.” — The Straits Times
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