Malaysia Matters Podcast

With a sure and steady desire to impose sharia law, the prospect of Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) defining the government of Malaysia is a frightening, but real threat. PAS leadership has continued to indicate that it is in favor of an Islamic state. If there is any question about the will to impose a fundamentalist order upon a country that has made great progress towards moderation and that is an ally in the war on terror, look no further than steps PAS has taken in the past, first in Kelantan, and then in Trengganu in 2002 when it won local control of that northeastern state and PAS leadership sought to subvert due process in order to impose their fundamentalist will.

The state chief minister, Abdul Hadi Awang, said he believed that his responsibility toward God took precedence over fulfilling the requirement to refer the Shariah bill to the federal attorney general before it was enacted. 

In that instance, a moderate federal government provided the check on power needed to avert the complete will of PAS, but again, that will has been made very clear.

Are we to presume that Anwar, who himself has ties to terror, will defend Malaysian pluralism and tolerance against the aims of PAS, that very core of his coalition he owes so greatly for any victory that he has, or may achieve?