The Roles of Tahaluf Siyasi in Political Unity
Mohd Syakir Mohd Rosdi

Abstract
Political unity has become a significant issue to most countries in the world. Among the reasons for the emergence of this issue are economic backwardness, war and political turmoil. One method of political unity used by some political parties to combine into one party is the method of tahaluf siyasi (TS). The meaning of the TS practiced by some political parties is the unification in order to face a similar adversary. This meaning differs with the meaning of TS adduced by Mohd Syakir Mohd Rosdi (2014). According to him TS means ‘cooperation between two or more parties in order to achieve a similar objective as long as it does not contravene Islamic law’. In Malaysia, for example, two parties have implemented the TS. First, is Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) (Abdul Hadi Awang, 2012; Abu Bakar Hamzah, 1992; Ahmad Fadli Shaari, 2008); and second is Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu (UMNO) (Nakhaie Ahmad, 2012; Fathul Bari Mat Jahya, 2012). PAS implemented TS with Pakatan Rakyat (PR), whereas UMNO implemented TS with Barisan Nasional (BN). There also emerged the term Unity Government (UG) and a political consensus that referred to TS as being between opposition parties and the ruling party. Hence, the efforts towards TS had failed. Was the failure due to the incompatibility of TS? What are the true qualities of TS that aids in uniting parties? Based on these questions, hence this study intends to analyse the role of TS that could be used as an approach to political unity. This investigation had used the library and content analysis methods. Library research was used to obtain secondary data, while content analysis was used to analyse the data. The results found eight roles in TS that could lead to political unity such as roles related to unity and cooperation, roles that emphasise on truth and honesty, role of making peace, roles related to faithfulness, roles related to sincerity, roles related to ukhuwah, roles related to preparedness, and roles related to not being easily gullible to foes.

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