This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 23, 2018 - April 29, 2018

IN the heart of Kota Baru, the Kelantan capital, lies what was formerly known as Medan Ilmu (Knowledge Square) — a network of squeaky-clean alleys, adorned by mural art, that make up a street market.

Every Friday morning, the square hosts lectures by state leaders on religious and political matters. The sermons have a nostalgic connection to the late PAS spiritual leader Tok Guru Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who started the practice even before he became the Kelantan menteri besar in 1990.

When Barisan Nasional (BN) state chairman Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed renamed the site Dataran Tok Pa (after his own nickname) earlier this month, the PAS government was heavily criticised for selling out the well-loved leader’s memory. Critics pounced on claims that the state had received a RM450,000 federal government grant to upgrade the site.

The following day, PAS issued a statement saying that the BN leader had breached state law by changing the square’s plaque without obtaining permission from the city council. The rebuke sent the message that PAS was not in a cosy alliance with BN, contrary to popular belief that the former political enemies were no longer at loggerheads.

Nik Aziz’s aura missing

Much is at stake for the Islamist party in its supporters’ perception of this relationship.

PAS does not only have its old rivalry with Umno, the ruling party in BN, to worry about but it also risks losing support to Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), which was set up in August 2015 by a progressive faction following a stormy exit from PAS.

All these developments are taking place in the absence of Nik Aziz, whose passing in February 2015 marked a watershed in PAS’ history.

Nik Aziz, held up as an example of a down-to-earth leader who lived in accordance with Islamic values, had lent an aura to his party’s mission of embodying the Islamic way of life. That glow is being sorely missed.

On the face of it, Amanah and PAS are both opposed to BN but something has changed of late. During this election season, the common ground with PAS is a matter that Amanah will explore in the future. For now, it wants to focus on a “bigger mission” — defeating the BN government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the general election. It is a mission that Amanah claims PAS has forgotten.

“My blood is still green,” says Kelantan Amanah chairman Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah, making a figurative reference to the Islamic colour and the PAS symbol. “But we need to save the political cooperation (between PAS and the then Pakatan Rakyat).”

Amanah, he argues, is now the party that is spearheading the “original” message of moderation and openness in Islam that PAS espoused previously. He recalls the days of the Bersih rallies between 2007 and 2012, when non-Muslims carried PAS flags and wore the white-moon-on-green logo as face paint at the height of their support for the Islamist party.

“The slogan ‘PAS for All’ represented the view of the party leaders at the time. Look at the relationship between [the late DAP lawmaker] Karpal Singh and Tok Guru Nik Aziz,” says Wan Rahim, a PAS member for 38 years from 1977 to 2015.

Despite the sour ties between PAS and Amanah, he does not discount the possibility of collaboration after GE14 “if we control the steering wheel”.

“After GE14, I will be one of those who will try to form a bridge between PAS and Amanah,” he says, in order to “save” PAS from its leaders who are rubbing shoulders with Umno.

At present, Amanah is leading the Pakatan Harapan (PH) charge in Kelantan, confident of snaring a good share of the votes that would otherwise go to PAS. At the same time, it will be rooting for its coalition partner, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), to do likewise with Umno’s supporters.

The PH coalition is, however, facing a legal hurdle due to its failure to be registered by the Registrar of Societies (RoS). Its component party PPBM has also been provisionally ordered to shut down for failing to comply with the RoS’ requirement to provide information relating to its branches.

Islamic governance and infrastructure versus bread-and-butter issues

PH actually has little choice but to hope for “silent” supporters in a state where it is considered taboo to support any party other than PAS or Umno  or even cross between the two. PAS and Umno are said to have the support of one third of Kelantan voters each.

Amanah carries the “burden” of being seen in a partnership with DAP, which has been branded as un-Islamic by its political opponents, a “stigma” that was carried by PAS until it broke off from the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Another factor is the controversial presence of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the opposition coalition. While Dr Mahathir seeks to rally voters against Najib’s administration by focusing on its weaknesses, his detractors have been attacking his 22-year legacy as the head of government.

This gamble, which has gained traction elsewhere in Malaysia, could have a different outcome for PH in Kelantan.

There is also another hiccup. In February, the Sultan of Kelantan revoked the datukship of Wan Rahim and Amanah vice-president Husam Musa, whom DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang proposed as a Kelantan menteri besar candidate.

Additionally, the bread-and-butter issues being highlighted by PH, such as the influence of the goods and services tax on the cost of living, or for that matter, the 1Malaysia Development Bhd issue, are less critical in the eyes of the Kelantanese, who are more in tune with PAS’ core message of Islamic governance or the BN’s ability to deliver infrastructure development.

“People have adapted to how things are progressing here,” says Zaidi, 35, a street food vendor and PAS sympathiser. He sees the state’s delayed development as partly caused by restricted funding allocated by the federal government.

Unlike Amanah supporters, Zaidi — who has worked outside Kelantan for over eight years — was quick to forgive PAS for sharing some common ground with Umno, such as the tabling of the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act Amendment Bill (RUU355) in the name of “Muslim unity”.

For Azman, 23, who has never gone outside Kelantan in search of job opportunities, the state government has not done enough to spur job creation or infrastructure development. “I will vote for Umno,” he says without hesitation. Showing up voluntarily at Najib’s recent visit to Melor, in the outskirts of Kota Baru, he was all praise for BN’s decision to increase BR1M payouts this year.

Promises of developments — including a new stadium, a bridge in the Ketereh constituency and an Al-Quran University in the state — were also very much welcomed by the 5,000-strong crowd who came to see Najib up close that day.

“We have seen an improvement in our infrastructure during Najib’s time. I think we are quite behind compared with the other states,” Azman says. He views BN’s promise, in its manifesto for Kelantan, to improve the tourism industry as crucial to drive its economy forward.

For Zakaria, 60, a contractor who came to the BN event out of curiosity, a message conveyed by Nik Aziz means a great deal. “We have always been independent … Kelantanese will not ask for anything from any government,” he says.

“Bui pitih, ambik, bui kain, paka, bila pakoh, pakoh bule (If they give, we receive. But when it comes to voting, vote for the moon),” says Zakaria, offering The Edge Malaysia a glimpse of the green and white PAS logo on his pocket document holder while standing among the crowd that was clad in BN blue.

Keeping disagreements at bay

Save for a few “light” punches, BN’s leaders have been careful not to touch on the coalition’s old rivalry with PAS lest it turns off the crowd and kills its chances of taking over the state.

The highlights of BN ceramah in Kelantan, at least this year, have mostly revolved around “a former prime minister who neglected the state’s well-being during his 22-year rule”, an obvious reference to Dr Mahathir.

Despite this campaign line, it is clear that PAS’ hold on the state is due to the strong affiliation of the Kelantanese to the party’s message.

“Umno is strong at the top level, so we think we are strong overall,” says an Umno insider. “But PAS grass roots are extremely tight-knit. Some of our leaders have contested thrice — each time with high confidence of winning — and lost. It will not be a mistake to be cautious the fourth time.”

No Umno spokesman was available to comment at the time of publication.

A PAS leader who spoke to The Edge Malaysia did not tone down his criticism of BN. This may be a reflection of the party’s strong position in the state assembly, where it holds 31 seats to BN’s 12 while PH has 2 of the 45 seats. However, it has dangerously small majorities of less than 1,000 votes in seven of those seats.

BN too has five seats which it won by a similarly small margin.

“People say the relationship between the state and federal governments is good but it only means we do not have open quarrels [like before],” says PAS Kelantan election director Zulkifli Mamat. “For example, the other day when [the prime minister] came [to Kota Baru to officiate at the ground-breaking ceremony] for the East Coast Rail Link project, why was the menteri besar [Datuk Ahmad Yakob] not invited?”

And just like Wan Rahim, Zulkifli is happy to welcome an Amanah-PAS collaboration going forward — only as long as its old members return to the party and not the other way around.

“Some of us have worked together for close to 40 years … it is regrettable. We would be lying to say that we did not feel anything when the members left,” he says. “But for me it is easy — come back, [and] do not ask us to go there [to Pakatan Harapan], they have to come here. Because this (PAS and Kelantan) is our home. There may be some leakages [in the roof]; let’s fix it together instead of leaving the house.” — The Edge Malaysia