With the winds of economic recession hitting several sectors of the country, the BN still acting as the sole 'owner' of the Malaysian nation, and the Umno resilient in its mission to protect its 'Napoleons' in all the departments and within the police force, the wind of change will keep blowing in Malaysia.

The question is whether Anwar can use this wind of change and the support from minorities to become Prime Minister or will the minorities be smarter in using him to topple the Malay-Muslim political power in Malaysia?

To the PAS leaders who are against the Anwar leadership in the PR, it is definitely impossible for them to let the 'minorities' beat Malay power but for the DAP, it is the 'submarine' effect of the use of Anwar that will boomerang into the defeat of the 'Ketuanan Melayu' and the establishment of the 'Ketuanan Rakyat' that the PR is now proposing.

There is little doubt that the PAS will not support the Ketuanan Rakyat policy not out of racism or fanaticism but out of logic. Malaysia needs time to push an agenda of change and the PAS itself is changing with its own non-Muslim wing to represent the non-Muslims in general. This may be the future of Malaysia's political parties, that is getting non-Muslims minorities to join the parties which is a secure way to safeguard the interests of the minorities who feels betrayed by the BN.

However, this is not the in favor of 'liberals' and other 'secular' groups that want a total ripping down of the BN and of the Umno rule in the country for the sake of establishing an anti-Islamic rule in Malaysia. For a large number of PR followers, Islam is the stumbling block that should be removed from Malaysian politics in order to achieve a purist secular society, where Islam has no other role to play than become a thing for the 'Mosques' or Masjids.

These forces are definitely using the PKR as platform to instill changes that are far too shocking for Malaysians of Islamic faith to accept. Their ideals are at times far too 'extreme' for many in the non-Muslim community to bear altogether and this is slowly coming out of the nutshell. The refusal by the Gerakan party to drop the BN and join the opposition camp has so far showed the type of 'scepticism' that some sectors of the non-Muslim societies in Malaysia now have towards the PR's ideology.

Anwar Ibrahim's ideology is based on the principle of secularism in which no religion has the right to claim to be better than others. The former 'reformasi' leader is banking on the support from non-Muslims in general and from a smaller section of Malay-Muslims to gain an upper hand in Malaysia. His ideology is however the cornerstone of the rejection by a larger section of the Malays to adopt his political aspirations.

The Malays in general believe Anwar is being used by the minorities and certainly by some political forces to achieve their agenda and once this done, Anwar will be dumped and thrown out of the political spectrum of the new powers that be.

The tragedy of Anwar Ibrahim's political career is that he will find it harder to bring a larger group of Malay-Muslims to support his PKR party. His party, contrary to the Umno and the PAS has adopted the concept of 'freedom of religion' which broadly means the freedom for any individuals or communities to abandon their 'faith' altogether.

There are PKR grass root leaders, unaware of the real meaning of 'freedom of religion', who have tried to explain that it meant everyone was free to practice their own religions in Malaysia. Yet since the creation of the country in 1957, everyone was able to practice their religion thus why is it necessary for the PKR to adopt a resolution on that matter?

With so much at stake and too many issues involved, the PKR's agenda for a secular Malaysia becomes a complicated issue. The PKR will have to deal the PAS a severe blow by dumping it out of the PR after achieving success in next GE. Will that be possible? The PAS may then emerge as the party that may salvage not only the Ketuanan Melayu but also the Umno and possibly the BN though at that time, in 4 years to say so, the BN may be a different coalition group altogether!

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Clear agenda
written by observers, November 17, 2008

The PKR does not have a clear agenda. What does it want to do with Malaysia? Turn it into a more secular state or allow Islam to prosper like it has been in the recent years under Abdullah Badawi? Anwar has to set his agenda with clear cut and firm intentions. Satisfy the below 40% non-Muslim minorities or be fair to them and to the Muslims. A difficult task indeed as the editor says. I bet we are hearing the voices of the majority Muslims in this editorial, those who would convey their fears and doubts about Anwar and the PKR. Should their views be discarded to promote that of the PKR and its chief and will that not cause, like the editorial says in all sincerity I think, a bigger split between Muslim and non-Muslim voters in the future?

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