KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — A senior news editor with Malay daily Utusan Malaysia said today that Harapan Baru (HB), a PAS splinter group seeking to be a progressive Islamist alternative to its parent party, will not benefit the Malays as it will end up a “proxy” of the secular DAP.
In his editorial column, Zulkiflee Bakar also wrote that disunity within the Malays was due to discord within PAS that had led to rifts within its ranks.
"This is not good news for the Malays. In fact, it opens up the opportunity for others to take advantage of the split among Malays," he wrote.
It is unclear why he had equated the split in one political party as a split among the majority race in Malaysia.
Zulkiflee added that HB leaders will follow "whatever DAP says" because DAP is like the "oil" that is moving the soon-to-be political party.
"So HB does not even need to talk about fighting for Islam because it is not going to go anywhere as everything will be decided by DAP.
"The existence of the new party by HB will not benefit Malay's political situation, in fact it will be weaker.
"PAS is split in two while Umno has to work hard to garner the people's support that is said to have eroded because of all kinds of issues that had taken place," he said, without specifically naming the issues.
He stressed that what is important for PAS leaders now is to strengthen PAS members support for the party so that they will not turn to HB.
"Do not link Umno to this. Do not accuse us as if HB's existence only benefits Umno. PAS is split not because of Umno but because of the party's own mistake for being so excited to establish a political cooperation with DAP," he wrote.
In the end, he said, the Malays will win and cheer on the surface but in reality, they will lose so much more.
