THE WAR ON TERROR, as dictated by the United States, is fast becoming one in Malaysia, as it already is in many countries with fealty to Washington. This is adopted to keep the opposition away from politics, but all it has done is to keep it alive. In Indonesia, this is more widespread than is reported in the news reports, that getting prominence only when this affects the government or foreign countries with an axe to grind, usually and not exclusively Australia. In the process, President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono is seen against the war of terror, the fine elements of which are Washington's, or Australia's dictates. Malaysia has gone wholly with the United States on this, because its largest opposition is Islamic, which it wants to say is pro-war on terror, mainly to blame it Islamically, but gets caught in a bind as the National Front's version of Islam – now Islam Hadhari, but that is under the present prime minister, Pak Lah, only; it was not under the former leader – does not cut much ice in the villages.

But it is not only the recent petrol price that has landed Pak Lah in trouble. In the recent byelection of Pengkalen Pasir in Kelantan, no mention of Islam Hadhari, allegedly his speciality, was allowed. UMNO campaigners could not say why it should be followed in Malaysia and not Islam, which PAS espouses and is the country's official religion. No one has explained what it stands for, UMNO leaders talk of it as being an Islam suited for modern times. But there is no discussion, even by UMNO leaders, because it is a political concept and not a religion as Islam is. It was concocted by the former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, – and Pak Lah recently published a book on it – to attack PAS. It is drummed into Malaysian minds that they should follow Islam Hadhari over Islam. But Islam Hadhari is anything but a religion. Malaysians are not allowed to discuss it, except laudatorily. One does follow Islam Hadhari as one follows Islam. Otherwise why was Islam Hadhari excluded from Pengkalen Pasir?

But there is a fly in the National Front ointment. The younger voters, particularly the Malays, do not believe in this widely held belief that UMNO, its lead party, is there to ensure that they will be looked after. UMNO has turned into a religious party, which the National Front endorsed. It fights a political battle to have its version of Islam – called Islam Hadhari under the Pak Lah administration – against the PAS version, which is the Islam ordained in the Quran. This is understood by the UMNO leadership, for when UMNO meets PAS head on – in Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah and Perlis – there is no mention of Islam Hadharii and only that PAS misuses the Quiran. Malaysias only hear of PAS members joining UMNO but many UMNO members, especially in recent years, have joined PAS. That is not reported, for that in National Front eyes, is not important, and the newspapers, in truth its propaganda organs, stay away from such newsta.

Is this what Islam Hadhari is about: go after those who fall foul of what one can see, forget about what Islam stands for and convert people in secret? Pak Lah must answer these discrepancies. He must also explain why the NST is excused but not the Sarawak Tribune and the Guong Ming Daily news. The NST is seen by more Malaysians than either paper. The two newspapers represent communities that feel left out in Malaysia. If anything, the action against these two newspapers have strengthened that feeling. The communities will no doubt compare the punishment meted out to the two papersd and the NST, and see not an attempt to prevent religious conflagration but division of religion, race and between East and West Malaysia. Pak Lah is in a spot. His civil servants have done the damage for which he is held responsible. He has made it worse by excusing NST and not taking action against the television stations.

Pak Lah does not believe in a council of advisers, which Tun Mahathir did, for he has no one is better than his son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, who has 'brilliant' people around the world who can be relied upon to give impartial advice. But Mr Khairy has his own political agenda to be prime minister, and has UMNO factions other than his father-in-law's against him, some of whom think he will sell the country to foreigners. Pak Lah is afraid a council of advisers would make his life difficult by asking for projects in return. He does not see his son-in-law as falling in that category. But this is probably why he makes important statements meant for Malaysians overseas. He does not address Malaysians, issues statements through Bernama, and the mainstream newspapers sing praises of him nevertheless. He has allowed a degree of freedom of the press under duress, but this is partly because of opposition within UMNO. He agreed to make Islam Hadhari – his version of Islam – his rallying cry, but did not. PAS was already too strong with Islam, and the rural folk, especially in Kelantan and Trengganu, believe in it, not Islam Hadhari.

The National Front government saw this has a hot potato. More than one cabinet minister was roped in to quell the revolt, which got the women senators from government and the opposition PAS together. They drafted a letter to the Prime Minister, whose department had initiated the bill, requesting that it be withdrawn. It would not, if the political position of Dato' Seri Nazri Aziz is any guide. It would also restrict the government's hands in future. The non-Islamic parties in the National Front does not want to get involved, and will be thrown by the wayside in this. But the National Front has realised that it cannot have its way in parliament even if it controls most of the seats. It has dissensions within it - those who do not support the ruling group; those that support Tun Mahathir Mohamed, the former prime minister; those who support Tengku Razaleigh, the former finance minister; those that support Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister who is in the opposition. It has already seen Islam Hadhari, which is Pak Lah's version of Islam, to the sidelines when PAS is around. Now it is the women from the National Front who has caused Pak Lah to be careful of his legislative plans. He has ensured that the whip will allow the senate to pass the bill. But it would be like telling the Yang Di Pertuan Agung not to address a function he had agreed to. In this revolt by the National Front women senators, it loses whether it succeds in the senate passing the bill or not. The government would have to make its plans carefully and with consultation.

The National Front, which has ruled Malay and Malaysia since 1955, cannot continue ruling as it had in the past unless it modified its policies, not just the electoral laws. It has to fight hard for the Malay vote, especially if it has PAS as an opponent. The National Front, especially UMNO, cannot be successful if the Chinese and Indian does not vote for its candidate to prove it is a Malay or Islamic party. The National Front, and UMNO, insists it is for the Malays and for Islam, but when it meets PAS, it would not bring its Islamic credentials to justify its existence. In Pengkalen Pasir, it could have brought out its trump card, Pak Lah's Islam Hadhari, but it did not. It wants its controversal policies accepted without debate or discussion. In a state ruled by PAS, which has not shied away from Islam or discussing it, UMNO decided not to confront PAS with its version of Islam. So it does not bring Islam Hadhari to Pengkalen Pasir.

The National Front is in disarray. Individual presidents chart their own course of action, known only at the beginning of their leadership. The moment Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as Prime Minister, his predecessor, Tun Mahathir's view, was discarded, and Pak Lah's views now took precedence. Islam Hadhari was the order of the day. Everyone talked of it, as if a new religion had been formed. But it was not in Pengkalen Pasir. The National Front policy has its confrontational policies adopted by stealth. Islam Hadhari cannot be a matter of debate. It was all right in the early days of independence, or even when the New Economic Policy was implemented in 1970, but not all right in 2005. The National Front cannot order the youths to follow its president's dictates, let alone other policies, because the youths, often children of Malaysians born after Merdeka in 1957, have difference concerns than the founders of UMNO or the Alliance or even the National Front had in mind. The youngsters of today cannot get jobs, have concerns different when the National Front leaders were youths at the time of independence, will have the National Front racial components ignore them at the best of times. The youth will rally to it by promises of good times to come, but it has not come, and those from all races, join hands in unision against the National Front.

The byelection has left UMNO with heavy commitments. It has promised the people of Pengkalen Pasir to do things they have forgotten in the state constituencies they have won in the 2004 general election. It would be business as usual from now on. A sleepy hollow was turned into a metropolice for the duration of the byelection, with UMNO's help, and it has become a sleepy hollow again. UMNO was interested in making a point, see Khairy Jamaluddin win handsomely, but PAS was interested in Pengkalen Pasir in the larger intests of the Muslim ummah. Islam Hadhari, which UMNO throws around the country as superior to Islam was kept in Kuala Lumpur during the byelection. The last thing UMNO wanted was a theological discussion on the benefits of Islam Hadhari and Islam. Malaysia would see contests like in Pengkalen Pasir in the years to come, with the National Front and lUMNO being more arrogant and the thinking its plan is best because it has more money to spend. Some people will be mollycoddled into accepting that propaganda, but many would not in the coming years. When the Barisan candidate in Bricfields offered RM10 each to any one who would vote for him, it was suggested he should pay RM10 a month for five years to get the vote. He lost. Propaganda and modern electoral methods might work for a while, but not always. Pengkalen Pasir proved that.

The Chinese government is on the warpath. But more important is the byelection in Pengkalen Pasir. What it says in public, and what its newspapers report on the police harassing the Chinese tourist becomes a political issue there as well. The average Malay does not want to be tarred with all this. The National Front hopes that he would not vote PAS as a result. The National Front, which in effect means UMNO, has forgotten about Islam Hadhari in Pengkalen Pasir, and hopes the voters will forget the MMS videoclip. But it has become an election issue in Kelantan. It goes against the Islam ummah (community), in which the non-Malay can live in peace but in a subsidiary role. But Islam does not allow them to be maltreated. The longer this issue is highlighted, the more difficult would be Malaysia's stance against the Chinese government, and UMNO's position in the byelection in Kelantan.

But this is questioned even by the Malay. The byelection in Pengkalen Pasir is a case in point. The deputy prime minister has promised a 10,000 strong procession to accompany the candidate. The Malaysian government is involved in a byelection in which the dead state assemblyman won by 65 votes. Pak Lah, no less, has taken the byelection as important, and has got the federal government machinery involved. Why? Because its opponent is PAS, a Malay party which does not believe in Malay ketuanan. The National Front, in this case UMNO, has asked the PAS state government to resign if it lost the seat. But has Pak Lah said he would resign, as would all state government it controls, if UMNO lost Pengkalen Pasir? Why not, given that it has UMNO throughout the country involved in Pengkalen Pasir? He will not order a fresh general elections. It is important that pressure be put on PAS to keep ketuanan as the UMNO agenda. Who wins does not matter, for it would change the balance of parties in the Kelantan state assembly. But to UMNO it does. Its leaders got carried away by their own rhetoric. The law does not allow a politician to resign and re-contest. The UMNO politician cannot afford to resign. But PAS state assemblyman will, for the party's future. There is nothing to prevent individual PAS state assemblyman to resign from now to the next general election. It might put UMNO in power but the frequent resignations will make its hold on the state moot. The National Front, and UMNO, may not know it yet, but its police of Malay Ketuanan is under attack, so it piles on the pressure on PAS. Islam Hadhari is forgotten in this byelection. How can UMNO talk of Islam Hadhari when its Malay ketuanan is on attack?

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