Malaysia’s GE15: The Rise Of Islamic Conservatism & Why We Should Be Worried
In this year’s elections, conservative Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) has risen to become the largest party with 44 seats in the country’s 222-seat hung parliament. Malaysia’s progressive Democratic Action Party (DAP) took second place with 40 seats. This shows how divided Malaysia has become. In 2018’s GE, PAS only had 18 seats, while DAP had 42 seats. In this piece, I plan to talk about what PAS’ sudden rise could mean.
Who is PAS?
PAS was founded on 24 November 1951, as the Persatuan Islam Se-Malaya (Malayan Islamic Organisation). They have always held the long-term goal of creating a Malay-Muslim Malaysia (i.e. an Islamic state). This has includes their attempts to legislate for hudud — an Islamic criminal justice system — in the states that it governs. Such laws would apply to all Muslims and would not apply to non-Muslims.
The PAS party wants the death penalty enacted for Muslims who attempt to convert. Additionally, the party has always showed their support for the Taliban.
What does this say about Malaysia today?
Prior to GE15, PAS’s popularity was understood to have been limited to rural and conservative northern and eastern coasts, particularly in the states of Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu.
However, this year’s GE proves that PAS has broken out of that area to become a major player. For example, PAS won two seats in Penang, widely considered to be one of the most liberal Malaysian state with the only Chinese chief minister in the country.
With this, we can only assume that PAS’ brand of conservative religious politics has become more attractive in Malaysia.
What does this mean?
With the most number of seats in the parliament, PAS would have the power to ask for key ministries with the potential to change Malaysia with more religion-based policies. This can mean further marginalizing any non-Malay / non-Muslim community in Malaysia. The party has already been vocal about how the leadership of other parties would cause Malay-Muslim to lose their “special rights”.
They may also reverse any progress that has already been made in the country, especially for women’s rights. The state PAS government in Kelantan bans traditional Malay dance theatres, banned advertisements depicting women who are not fully clothed, and enforced the wearing of headscarves, although they allowed gender segregated cinemas and concerts. Some government-controlled bodies led by PAS also pressure non-Muslims to wear headscarves, such as students of the International Islamic University of Malaysia and female officers in the Royal Malaysian Police. Such conservative laws may become even more widespread across Malaysia. (After all, despite multiple news reports about the Taliban preventing girls from attending secondary schools throughout Afghanistan, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang remains vocal about how the Taliban is being slandered, and that they were not denying girls and women the right to education. This tells us a lot about his idea of women’s rights.)
For Singapore, if PAS is in charge, they could make policy decisions that will undermine us just because we are not a religious country. After all, they believe that Singapore is an example of what Malaysia should NOT be.
“We face a big threat, if we are careless, we will see our dignity, race and country compromised. It is not impossible for us to become a second Singapore,”
Selangor PAS election director Roslan Shahir Mohamad Shahir.
Regardless of the coalition formed, PAS would still be the majority with a third of the seats. The multitude of ways in which Malaysia can undermine Singapore is something we should be worried about. The fact that their ideology is getting more support from Malaysians is also concerning.
