Speaking to FMT, Tawfik Ismail said Mahathir and Anwar started Malaysia on the path to ultra-conservative Islamisation in the 1980s, with the then-prime minister establishing the powerful Jakim and Anwar pushing his idea of “Penerapan nilai-nilai Islam” in the government.
Given the seemingly directionless and weakened state of their former party Umno after the May 9 polls, he added, both Mahathir’s PPBM and Anwar’s PKR were now waiting with bated breath.
“A plague on both your houses I say,” said the former Sungai Benut MP, taking a line from William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”.
“I’m cynical of Umno, PPBM and PKR because they’re all fragments of Umno Baru, which was unrecognisable from the original Umno.
“People say Umno is dying, (but) that’s not accurate because Umno already died in 1987 when it was declared illegal along with its noble ideals.”
Tawfik said because Umno Baru was now “dead”, he believed many of its leaders wouldn’t hesitate to ditch the party and join either PPBM or PKR to secure their personal interests.
“At the end of the day, if this happens, will we really see a different Malaysia?
“At least where ultraconservative Islamisation is concerned, I have to say no because neither PPBM nor PKR seems to really want to kill what Mahathir and Anwar created.”
He said the “ex-Umno Baru” bunch in PKR and PPBM seemed reluctant to appear “unIslamic”, whether in addressing the issue of child marriages, deinstitutionalising religion or pushing for change where religious matters were concerned.
“The religious agenda continues to be driven by the very same people who made it more important than it should have been. It’s both lawmakers and civil servants.”
He said moderates like Mustapa Mohamed and Anifah Aman, who left Umno earlier this week, would find real change impossible if they had to join either Mahathir or Anwar.
“There’s going to be a lot of uncertainty in Malay politics at this rate but rather than take sides, like warring camps in Umno did in 1987, why don’t the moderates in Umno form a non-aligned, progressive and moderate bloc on their own?
“If you take sides, it will just be a return to the ways of Umno Baru. The likes of Mustapa, Anifah and Khairy Jamaluddin don’t have to side with others. If they remain moderate, they can draw moderates not just from Umno Baru, but from those outside of Umno Baru, including non-Malays.”
He said there were bound to be moderates in PKR and PPBM, just as there were radicals in the two Pakatan Harapan parties and Umno Baru.
He added that forming a moderate bloc, aligned to neither PPBM nor PKR, would keep the two parties from going down the path of race and religion while helping them stay true to the spirit and ideology of the original Umno. - FMT
You are known for your super liberal thinking. Why don't consider yourself as an agnostic? Close your gap - should be the best choice.
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