The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party and its Islamist fundalmentalist ideologies

Abstract

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PMIP) has been existed in Malaysia before the independence of Malaya in 1957. Its initial participation in the general elections after independence of Malaya was not very successful and discouraging because the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) was more successful than PMIP in securing the votes from the Malayan voters. One of the many reasons for the political dominance and victory of UMNO over PMIP was the political alliance between UMNO and the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC). Based on its Islamic religious understanding and argument, PMIP had attacked the political alliance between UMNO, MCA and MIC. However, PMIP has changed its political stance and PMIP has seen the importance of the political supports and votes from the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia although they are the non-Muslims. PMIP began to look for the votes from the non- Muslims in Malaysia. What has made PMIP change its opposition to the political alliance between the Muslims and the non-Muslims in Malaysia? This paper is an attempt to answer this question. The main thesis in this paper is that for the sake of attracting, winning or securing the votes from the non-Muslim voters in Malaysia, PMIP has adopted Islamist fundamentalist ideologist. This main thesis is mainly supported through the library research methods and analyses.