Rencana ABC menyebut Mahathir tidak akan melayan sebarang syarat dari PAS.

Pas meminta perbincangan merangkumi pelbagai aspek perpaduan nasional dan bukan hanya tertumpu kepada isu perpaduan Melayu.

Antara lain isu yang berbangkit:

1. Bebas dan bicara semula Anwar
   
2. Royalti Terengganu
   
3. Pengguguran Nama Islam dari PAS dsb.
4. Harakah dibebaskan kepada 2x seminggu

S/U Agung PAS, Ustaz Nasharudin Mat Isa menyatakan syarat tambahan itu kerana Mahathir mungkir janji dengan mendedahkan kepada umum keputusan hasil pertemuan awal. Itu bukan semangat mencari perpaduan, tetapi mencari kesempatan untuk mengaut keuntungan. Akar umbi PAS sedikit bimbang kerana keris Umno memang telanjang dan tidak boleh duduk bersama sebarangan. Tersilap langkah PAS akan tertikam walaupun sekadar bertukar pandangan mengenai tajuk dan isu pertemuan.

(Tahun 1973: PAS dipujuk memasukki BN demi perpaduan Tahun 1977: PAS ditendang keluar dari BN dan DUN Kelantan.)

-Kapal Berita-

Rencana Rujukkan

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20010215_636.html

WIRE: 02/15/2001 6:39 am ET

Malaysia's opposition wants Anwar issue in talks

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Malaysia's main opposition set conditions on Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's party, demanding a solution to the fate of his jailed former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, among others.

Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), due to attend talks on Monday called by Mahathir's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), said it also wanted to address concerns about the judiciary, the economy and democracy, including the role of Islam in politics.

"PAS will specifically raise the issue of...Anwar Ibrahim's indictment and offer suggestions to resolve the matter," Nasharudin Mat Isa, secretary-general of the Muslim opposition party, said in a statement.

The talks were proposed by UMNO as part of efforts to rally support it had lost since Mahathir sacked former deputy prime minister and finance minister Anwar in September 1998.

Anwar's ouster, subsequent prosecution and jailing deeply divided Malays, who represent Malaysia's majority ethnic group and form the bedrock of Mahathir's power base.

It also wrecked the image of the police and judiciary, accused of conspiring with Mahathir to frame Anwar, and brought forth an array of allegations about economic and democratic abuses by his government.

Mahathir last month invited selected opposition parties for talks on Malay unity, a move analysts saw as consolidating his position without discussing the Anwar issue.

Anwar's own Parti Keadilan Nasional, led by his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, declined to join the talks.

Wan Azizah said ethnic Chinese and Indians should also take part in the talks as they faced the same oppression as Malays under Mahathir's rule.

PAS, which rallied behind Anwar and won most of the support lost by UMNO, accepted while insisting talks have a "national unity" agenda associated with issues linked to his sacking.

"We are not interested in Malay unity talks, we are interested in national unity talks as that is our mandate," Nasharudin told a news conference on Thursday.

Officials said Monday's talks involve six representatives each from UMNO and PAS with Mahathir leading the government side.

The prime minister has repeatedly said he would not consider any preliminary demands by PAS over the meeting.

"There are no conditions to the talks," he said at the weekend.

Nasharudin said PAS's central working committee (CWC) had set the agenda.

"If they (UMNO) don't agree to any of these conditions, we have to get back to our CWC to make a decision," he said.

Malays account for more than 55 percent of the country's 22 million population, with Chinese and Indians making up some 30 percent and 10 percent respectively.

From The Singapore Straits Times
16th February 2001

Unity talks in doubt as PAS increases its demands

By Wan Hamidi Hamid

MONDAY'S much-awaited unity talks between Umno and PAS hung in the balance yesterday after the Islamic party placed a new list of demands before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad's party.

In addition to discussing the release and retrial of Anwar Ibrahim and the non-payment of oil royalties in Terengganu, the opposition party wants the unity summit to be about:

Alleged economic mismanagement of the Employees Provident Fund, Pension Fund, Muslim Pilgrimage Fund Board and other government-owned trust funds.

Umno's proposal to the government to drop the word 'Islam' from Islamic bodies, including PAS (Party Islam SeMalaysia).

Reinstating the right to publish PAS newspaper Harakah twice a week or eight times a month as it was before, instead of the current twice a month.

PAS secretary-general Nasharudin Mat Isa said the additional conditions were in response to an alleged breach of promise by Dr Mahathir, as both parties were not supposed to make public the decisions of their preliminary talks.

The Umno president on Saturday announced that next Monday would be the day for both parties to meet to discuss unity issues.

He also explained the format and agenda of the proposed talks. He said PAS was disappointed with such an attitude, claiming that it would not contribute to the spirit of an amicable dialogue.

'I have sent a letter on this matter to my Umno counterpart, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, and I expect a written reply as soon as possible.'

He said the second technical committee meeting between the two parties would also be decided once PAS received the reply from Umno.

This latest development prompted rumours that the proposed talks on Monday might be called off if both parties failed to reach an agreement.

'It might come to that end if Umno does not agree with our agenda for the talks,' the PAS leader said.

PAS insiders said their leaders were caught off-guard when Dr Mahathir made the announcement of the talks.

Although it was PAS that proposed Monday as the day for the talks, some of the party leaders thought they needed more time to prepare for the dialogue.

PAS grassroots members were also worried about the proposed talks, claiming the Islamic party leaders could be trapped again by Umno as had happened in 1973, when PAS was coaxed into joining Barisan Nasional.

And just four years later, in late 1977, PAS was kicked out from the alliance and the Islamic party lost the state of Kelantan after ruling it for almost 20 years.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg

http://www.malaysiakini.com/News/2001/02/2001021510.php3

Thursday February 15

PAS kemukakan empat isu, termasuk Anwar

Zakiah Koya

8:58pm, Thu: PAS akan mengemukakan isu kepincangan badan kehakiman, khususnya berhubung perbicaraan bekas Timbalan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, dalam perbincangan dengan Umno Isnin depan.

Tiga lagi isu utama yang dicadangkan termasuklah hubungan antara kerajaan Pusat dengan Kelantan dan Terengganu yang dikuasai PAS, penyalahgunaan dana awam untuk menyelamatkan syarikat tertentu dan saranan Umno untuk menggugurkan nama Islam pada parti itu.

Keputusan ini dicapai dalam satu mesyuarat biro politik parti itu semalam.

"Sebagai pembuka perbincangan, antara perkara yang disebutkan (dalam perbincangan itu) adalah (untuk) mengembalikan semula hak royalti (Terengganu) seperti yang sedia termaktub dalam perjanjian (dengan Petronas)," kata Setiausaha Agungnya Nasharudin Mat Isa kepada malaysiakini hari ini.

Beliau berkata PAS bertegas agar pertemuan itu dinamakan 'perbincangan perpaduan nasional' dan menyifatkan kenyataan Presiden Umno Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad hujung lalu sebagai "high-handed" (angkuh).

Ahad lalu, Dr Mahathir mendedahkan butir-butiran penting, termasuklah tarikh pertemuan pada 19 Februari depan, jumlah perwakilan seramai enam orang bagi setiap parti dan isunya menyentuh perpaduan Melayu sebagai sebahagian perpaduan nasional.

"Kenyataan beliau (Dr Mahathir) bahawa perpaduan nasional adalah sebahagian daripada perpaduan Melayu lebih-lebih lagi lagi melukakan sebahagian besar rakyat, khususnya penyokong PAS dan Barisan Alternatif," kata Nasharudin lagi.

Bagaimanapun menurutnya lagi, PAS tidak akan membelakangkan isu perpaduan Melayu tetapi lebih mengutamakan isu-isu negara dan rakyat secara menyeluruh.

PAS juga bercadang mengemukakan usul agar lidah rasmi parti itu Harakah dibenarkan diterbitkan dua kali seminggu seperti sebelum dihadkan kepada dua kali sebulan mulai Mac tahun lalu.

Parti Islam itu turut melahirkan rasa dukacita terhadap tindakan keras polis ketika menyuraikan perhimpunan Barisan Alternatif di Sabak Bernam, Selangor pada 10 Februari lalu dan di Kubang Pasu, Kedah semalam.