It is Umno that’s extremist!

By Helen Ang

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Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi is standing the election in Batu Buruk, Terengganu. His campaign team – I estimate about 25 that night – at their Kuala Ibai ops centre were hospitable and every other staffer invited me to break bread with them. Their catered meal was simple, consisting of rice, chicken curry and mutton curry. Drink was mineral water. 

PAS is moderate in its spending.

It’s Umno that’s extremely extravagant. Umno’s election expenditure is exorbitant and their commandeering of public facilities and manpower, criminal. 

Mohd Shukrimun Shamsudin is the PAS candidate contesting the Kuala Nerus Parliamentary seat. At a barbecue he attended, children scampered and teenagers lounged.

On the other hand, imagine the amount of protocol, kompang and bunga manggar choking the air if it was an Umno bigshot present.  It’s Umno that has an unwarrantedly extreme sense of self-importance, as if we’re still living in feudal times.  

Umno mouthpieces in mass media are extremely biased. Dr Azman says: “None of it (reporting and coverage) is fair to PAS. It’s so shameful the mainstream media today. I don’t know how to describe it but we have to use the alternative media, I think so far, quite effectively.”   

Dr Azman further comments: “It’s normal for Umno and Barisan Nasional to portray PAS as extreme as possible in the eyes of the Chinese and also the Indians – extreme fundamentalist political party. And also they’ve tried their very best to portray DAP as chauvinist as possible in the eyes of the Malays. 

“So you can look at the news coverage yesterday. They do this sort of propaganda; they’ve done it many, many times. That’s how they garner the votes of the Malays – PAS being seen to work with the DAP, PAS will lose the votes of the Malays and DAP will lose the votes of the Chinese.” 

Umno is extremely unimaginative to use the same approach unchangeably. Either that or they and their MSM minions are overly confident Malaysians will remain extremely gullible.  

My friend Laa had picked me up from the airport in Kuala Terengganu and we breakfasted at a warong in Gong Badak. Sitting across me was a man holding Utusan Malaysia. The words ‘PAS kepanasan’ emblazoned across its front page caught my eye.  

I asked Laa what he interpreted the banner headline to mean. He replied: “It’s the media campaigning”. The third-prong of the election campaign is extremely nauseating.  

As I type this, I’m now staying in a kampong house and my hosts are a large PAS family with kids and cats in tow. When I used to stop over at Kota Bharu, I stayed with a large PAS family too. I addressed them as Tok (granny in the Kelantan and Terengganu dialects), To’ki (grandpa, sadly both have passed on), Ummi and other honorifics.  

Umno and MSM are wont to portray PAS supporters as extremist. While I may be wary of the Islamic state agenda and Islamist ideology, I see their followers as Malaysians who have imbued Islam in their lives, the way Umno leaders don’t seem to have.  

MSM’s invidious characterization of Malays who support PAS as extreme is insulting their readers, listeners and viewers’ intelligence … extremely. It’s also insulting Muslims.  

Here’s the clincher by Dr Azman: “If we are an extremist party, we wouldn’t be contesting this election, you know. We, PAS, have played a major role in the political development of this country and also the democratic process in this country and we believe we still play a big role in nation-building, within the rules and regulations of this country.” 

Can Umno say the same?