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Malaysiakini
We’re Islamist democrats, says PAS leader
After 64 years in political existence, PAS has “come of age”, according to the executive director of the party’s research institute, Dzulkefly Ahmad, who is a member of the progressive faction in the Islamic party called the Erdogans. “(We are) no longer Islamists, but Islamist democrats,” Dzulkefly described PAS at a forum in Kuala Lumpur.
Established before Merdeka as the Pan-Malayan Islamic Party or PMIP, it changed its name to Parti Islam Se-Malaysia or PAS in the 1970s.
According to the MP for Kuala Selangor, Islamists are globally shifting from their “Islamic state doctrine” and moving to articulate their message in a language more easily understood by the general populace and in a more genial way.
“It is all about how we profess our obedience to God in the most critical of issues, which is governance and government,” Dzulkefly told a forum titled ‘Beauty and the Beast’, organised by think-tank Refsa at Publika Solaris Dutamas yesterday afternoon.
And through governance and government, Dzulkefly said, it became the duty of a Muslim to contribute all efforts to make the world a better place for all.
Such responsibility is part and parcel of the Islamic faith, which facilitates not only human relationship with God, but also the relationship among humans and their joint stewardship of this Earth.
The ‘new age’ Islamist democrats, Dzulkefly said, only want to play their part in the democratic governance process and do not seek to force their views – be it political or religious – on anybody.
“It is all about good governance,” he added.
