GEORGE TOWN: A former DAP senior leader today said it was not impossible for non-Malays in the country to support Pas.
Dr P. Ramasamy said it was not impossible for Pas to gain the support of non-Malays, particularly the Chinese and Indian communities.
He said currently, Pas's support base was confined to Malays, with the Islamic party maintaining its stronghold in states like Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu.
He said Pas, together with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, had recently made in-roads in other states.
"The only factor that stands in the way of Perikatan Nasional taking federal power is the conspicuous lack of non-Malay support.
"Recently, a Pas leader told me in Penang that the party has the support of the Malays, but lacks non-Malay support. Going on the basis of the sentiments expressed by certain Pas leaders, they are serious about winning over non-Malay support.
"Pas might be a regional party, but considering the Malay swing in recent years, the non-Malays are looking at the party seriously.
"The recent overtures made by Pas national leaders in sending Deepavali and Thaipusam greetings to Indians come from the realisation that the party is serious about courting non-Malays," he said today.
Ramasamy, the interim council president of the newly-formed party United for the Rights of Malaysians (Urimai), said in the last state elections, PN could have benefited from the drift of Indian voters away from the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional coalition.
He said getting non-Malay support was not something new to Pas.
"When the party was in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition with DAP and PKR, it had the support of non-Malays. After Pas broke away from PR, it sought to ingratiate itself with Malays rather than non-Malays.
"The fire-brand politics of Pas leaders like Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang and others may have alienated non-Malays, particularly the Chinese. This has been used and manipulated by DAP to the extent of painting an extreme picture of Pas as the political enemy of non-Malays.
"It is this narrative that has been successfully used by DAP to ingratiate itself to the Chinese and not so much the Indians. So much so, the Pas bogey-man narrative has been used by DAP to remain relevant among Chinese. Anyway, DAP's relevance amongst Chinese is founded on the community's disdain for Pas. However, such a political equation is not something cast in iron.
"Pas's attempts to reinvent itself vis-a-vis the non-Malays might change the political arithmetic.
"As the saying goes, nothing is impossible in the mercurial world of Malaysian race and religious politics."
Ramasamy said regardless of how Pas has been negatively painted by the PH-BN coalition and DAP, the Islamic party should extend the olive branch towards non-Malays.
Pas, he added, must take serious steps to allay the fears of non-Malays.
He said it should not be forgotten that non-Malays had high respect for the former Pas leader, Tan Sri Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
"Pas's overtures towards non-Malays must go beyond festive greetings. There must be a political agenda to address the rights and grievances of non-Malays and non-Muslims in the country.
"It is not impossible to get the support of non-Malays, particularly the Chinese community. The spell cast by DAP on the community may be something ephemeral.
"Recently, I had the opportunity to meet a number of non-Malay friends in Sitiawan. One of them is a successful businessman and his children are all studying overseas. In the course of conversation, he suddenly remarked that non-Malays were not against Pas despite the bad publicity, and if only the Islamic party can make serious overtures to them by way of respecting their rights."