VZCZCXRO3042
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #0828/01 2920252
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 190252Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3268
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUALA LUMPUR 000828 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2019 
TAGS: PGOV ECON GTIP MY TH
SUBJECT: REALIST ISLAMIC POLITICS IN KELANTAN 
 
REF: KL 417 (AMBASSADOR,S VISIT TO KELANTAN) 
 
Classified By: POLCOUNS Brian McFeeters for reasons 1.4 (b, d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Kelantan, Malaysia's least-developed and 
most conservative Muslim state, has been governed by the 
opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) for the last 20 
years.  Its relative poverty has led to jibes such as that 
from Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin on October 6 that 
Kelantan is proof that PAS can't govern.  Disputing that 
charge, PAS Member of Parliament Wan Rahim, from the state 
capital Kota Bharu, told visiting Pol Counselor during an 
October 6 meeting that Kelantan's people are satisfied with 
the "religious nature" of life there, and are not seeking 
more rapid development.  He characterized PAS's national 
strategy as a "realistic" effort to stick with the Peoples 
Alliance opposition coalition, which he thought could win the 
next national elections, to be held by March 2013 at the 
latest.  Chief Minister of Kelantan and PAS spiritual leader 
Nik Aziz (78) remains central to PAS's local vision of a 
pious Islamic society.  This message is based and discussions 
that Pol Couns and Pol Staff had during a visit to Kelantan's 
capital, Kota Bharu, during October 5-7.  End Summary. 
 
PAS vs. UMNO 
------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Kelantan is Malaysia's case study in PAS rule, 
governed by the Islamic party from 1959 to 1977 (from 1972 to 
1977 as part of a ruling National Front coalition) and again 
from 1990 to the present; PAS won 38 of the state's 45 
parliamentary seats in March 2008.  Over 90 percent Malay, 
Kelantan ranks last among Malaysia's 13 states in terms of 
economic development, in part because of its location, 
agrarian economy, and lack of a deep-water port.  Its per 
capita GDP was estimated at 42 percent of the national 
average in 2000. 
 
¶3. (C) In an October 6 meeting, PAS Member of Parliament (MP) 
from Kota Bharu Wan Rahim acknowledged that Kelantan's 
economic development has lagged, but he argued that 
Kelantanese like the state's lifestyle as it is, appreciating 
the "religious nature" instilled by Chief Minister and PAS 
spiritual leader Nik Aziz.  Young people leave the state to 
seek jobs in Kuala Lumpur or elsewhere, but their remittances 
to parents and relatives in Kelantan and frequent visits home 
raise local incomes, as shown by "five new cars parked in 
front of village houses" on some weekends.  Rahim challenged 
those who criticize the state, including Deputy Prime 
Minister Muhyiddin, to see for themselves how conditions are 
improving, citing the recent opening of a Tesco hypermarket 
(UK-based wholesale chain) in Kota Bharu, which drew 
customers from as far away as northern Terengganu state. 
 
¶4. (C) Surprisingly, Rahim did not make the opposition 
parties' usual argument that PAS-governed Kelantan lagged 
because the ruling National Front (BN) coalition denied the 
state financial resources, though he did mention that 
Kelantan is not getting its fair share of oil revenues. 
United Malays National Organization (UMNO) politicians were 
more frank about the economic consequences of opposition 
control during an October 5 discussion.  Former Deputy Chief 
Minister of Kelantan Ahmad Rastam (when BN held the state, 
1978-1990), said UMNO's loss of power was Kelantan's loss, 
because UMNO had sketched bold plans to develop the state's 
infrastructure and its links to nearby Pahang and Perak. 
Instead, not mentioned by Rastam, an east coast highway that 
was supposed to reach Kota Bharu was never finished after PAS 
regained the state. 
 
¶5. (C) Rastam said he had trouble understanding why voters 
hadn't expelled PAS for mismanagement since even an Islamic 
lifestyle required money, but he ruefully acknowledged that 
BN could not hope to regain Kelantan as long as Nik Aziz was 
around.  A further problem was that BN's loss of its historic 
two-thirds majority in Parliament precluded redistricting 
Kelantan in UMNO's favor.  As an aside, Rastam said he was 
sure that PR leader Anwar Ibrahim was sure to be convicted in 
his sodomy case, citing strong evidence that Rastam was privy 
to.  Anwar had been offered the chance to swear on the Koran 
that he was innocent, while his accuser had sworn on the 
Koran that he was telling the truth. 
 
Nik Aziz 
--------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Kelantan Chief Minister "honored teacher" ("Tok 
Guru") Nik Aziz enjoys a status perhaps on par with 
Americans' posthumous admiration of George Washington.  In 
Kota Bharu, Teenagers' motorcycles have "we love Nik Aziz" 
stickers.  An ethnic Indian businessman volunteered to 
visiting POL Counselor and POL staff that Aziz had allowed a 
stalled Indian temple to be completed.  A local journalist 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000828  002 OF 003 
 
 
added that Aziz effectively conveys to Kelantanese that they 
should accept their fate on earth ("takdir") and concentrate 
on the hereafter -- Islamic spiritual language that UMNO 
can't counter.  Aziz, who has held political office 
continuously for 42 years, is also admired because he lives 
not in the Chief Minister's mansion -- now open to tourists 
-- but in his modest home in a poor part of Kota Bharu, next 
to the mosque and school where he started his career as an 
Imam. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Outside observers find Aziz' Islamic initiatives in 
Kelantan -- such as the separate grocery lines for men and 
women (posted but often ignored) and his recommendation that 
the lights be kept on in movie theaters ) somewhat comical, 
but it appears that Kelantanese, and many conservative 
Muslims in Malaysia, hang on his every word.  He also plays 
political hardball, a journalist told us, having pressured 
all PAS representatives to sign an Islamic oath ("bayat") 
pledging, on pain of apostasy that would carry over to future 
generations, not to defect from the party after the 2004 
elections, when UMNO came close to gaining control of the 
state.  Aged 78 and having suffered a heart attack, he has no 
clear successor. 
 
PAS Nationally 
-------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) PAS MP Wan Ibrahim frequently cited Aziz in 
commenting on PAS's outlook for the next national election. 
Asked about speculation that PAS would reach out to UMNO, as 
some in the PAS national leadership reportedly want to do 
(ref A), Rahim answered immediately that such a move was 
impossible as long as Aziz was around.  Instead, Rahim said, 
Aziz (and Rahim) favors a "realistic" approach for PAS, 
continuing to work within the Peoples Alliance (PR) 
opposition coalition to win the next national elections. 
Rahim said PAS's strength was its ability to attract Malays 
because of its unchallenged Muslim credentials and appeal to 
non-Malays because of a track record, including in Kelantan, 
of tolerance.  An example of PAS's appeal to non-Malays was 
the large PAS victory in mixed-race Kota Raja district in 
Selangor in March 2008.  By contrast, UMNO was trapped in a 
model that required it to defend Malay privileges and 
alienate non-Malays. Rahim said that BN feared PR's strength, 
and had offered PAS the chief minister slots in four states 
besides Kelantan (Selangor, Terengganu, Kedah and Perak) 
after the March 2008 elections if it would refrain from 
joining PR. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Rahim could not be pinned down about the apparent 
contrasts within the PR opposition coalition, which includes 
the secular Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the 
Peoples Justice Party (PKR) along with PAS, which officially 
favors establishment of an Islamic state.  Establishing an 
Islamic state was a religious aspiration inherent for Islam, 
Rahim said, but PAS had learned the Islamic state was not to 
be when it contested 98 out of 177 parliamentary seats in 
1986, losing so badly that it lost USD 70,000 worth of in 
deposits for failing to capture the minimum one-eighth of the 
vote in many constituencies.  PAS needed to work with a 
coalition, but he described the PR coalition as 
"loose...nothing is in writing." Nor would the planned 
December PR convention lead to defining what PR stood for; it 
would be a "pure public relations exercise."  His implicit 
message was that the PR coalition was a vehicle to help PAS 
increase its influence. 
 
Border Issues 
------------- 
 
¶10. On October 6, we also traveled to the nearby 
Malaysia-Thailand border villages of Rantau Panjang and 
Pengkalon Kubur, in the former case observing steady streams 
of people crossing the narrow (10-15 meters wide) Golok river 
in both directions aboard small ferry boats without any 
immigration formalities.  Most passengers were women carrying 
grocery bags; rice is said to be relatively inexpensive on 
the Thai side, while cooking oil was prominently for sale on 
the Malaysian side.  There was also steady vehicle traffic 
across the bridges in each village after brief document 
checks.  Kelantan police officials did not agree to our 
request for a meeting to discuss border issues.  Our 
interlocutors in Kota Bharu said the intermittent violence in 
southern Thailand did not worry the Kelantanese.  However, on 
October 7, according to news reports, three bomb blasts on 
the Thai side of the border in Sungai Golok killed two 
persons and injured 12. 
 
¶11. (C) Asked about previous reports (ref A) that Burmese 
refugees were being trafficked at the Malaysian-Thailand 
border, PAS Parliamentarian Rahim said he had not heard 
anything about the problem lately and believed it had 
stopped.  Our other interlocutors did not have any response 
 
KUALA LUMP 00000828  003 OF 003 
 
 
to the question. 
KEITH