Pas, whose main agenda is to turn Malaysia into an Islamic theocratic state and implement hudud, will have a lot to ponder about its alliance with DAP and PKR at its 56th Muktamar (annual assembly) yesterday.
The contentious issue was the chink in Pakatan's armour in the run-up to the general election in May, with DAP leaders denouncing hudud and PKR opting to sit on the fence in favour of political expediency.
Hudud has driven a deep wedge between Pas and DAP. This led Pas to put the issue on the back-burner and delay its quest to form an Islamic state in Malaysia.
Realising it was unable to hold its own against Barisan Nasional, Pas could ill afford to offend its coalition partners and risk extinguishing hopes of capturing Putrajaya.
The past five years have been a tormenting period for Pas, especially at the grassroots level, as it juggled between pleasing party hardliners and appeasing its strange bedfellows within the loose opposition pact.
Following Pas' less than stellar performance in GE13, where it lost the Kedah government to BN and won only 21 parliamentary seats compared with 23 in 2008, its influential ulama faction coolly pinned the blame on PKR.
Pas' failure to retain Kedah, where Malays make up 75 per cent of the 1.04 million registered voters, is a clear sign the community is beginning to distance itself from the party.
BN put Pas deputy president Mohamad Sabu, or Mat Sabu, in a tight spot after he was defeated in the Pendang parliamentary seat.
Pas vice-president Salahuddin Ayub, tasked with cracking BN's fortress in Johor, lost the Nusajaya state seat.
The defeat of these two top Pas leaders and other candidates in the Malay-majority constituencies compelled it to revisit its position within the Pakatan fold.
A month after the general polls, Pas ulama chief Datuk Harun Taib sent shockwaves by declaring Pas needed to gauge the pros and cons of its marriage of convenience, particularly with PKR.
His assertion was in line with the opinion of certain factions in Pas who had blamed PKR for the Pas' relatively poor showing in GE13.
Harun said Pas' participation in "Blackout 505" rally proved the dominance of the so-called "Anwarinas" faction in Pas.
His call sent signals to the grassroots to weed out Anwarinas -- those associated with PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim -- in this party elections.
He also said Pas had compromised many of its principles to appease its partners, which translated into a loss of its support among Malays, particularly in the rural areas.
The simmering tension between the party's ulamas and Anwarinas was evident when Pas Dewan Ulama big guns kept a distance from the Sungai Limau by-election campaign last month.
The infighting between the two factions reached new heights when Pas vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar, seen as a main figure in the Anwarinas faction, was appointed Kedah Pas commissioner and to take charge of the party machinery in the Sungai Limau by-election.
This week, Penang Pas had apparently begun to unspool its ropey ties with DAP, threatening to withdraw from the DAP-led state government for its "unreasonable interference" in administration of Islamic affairs.
State Pas deputy commissioner Muhammad Fauzi Yusoff said besides sidelining Penang Pas, the state government did not appreciate the party's contributions to ensure the people, especially Malays, continued to support Pakatan in Penang. This will not bode well for Pas' rocky relationship with DAP
Read more: Pas mulls DAP, PKR ties - General - New Straits Times
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