That short flirtation has ended and it has now decided to return to its conservative image, rudely awakened by the reality that it was more important to try to hold on to its jewels – Kelantan and Kedah – and that hardcore supporters were loudly voicing their dissatisfaction.

It now wants to be recognised for its main objectives – setting up an Islamic state and implementing hudud laws – and will surely have no tolerance for rock concerts, which it has dismissed as hedonistic.

PAS surely does not want to see its Malay votes, the deciding factor, slipping away for non-Muslim votes.

So it is now back to making the wearing of headscarves compulsory for women and punishing those who disobey the rule in Kelantan, and banning the setting up of cinemas in Bangi, Selangor, simply because a PAS state assemblyman objected.

And the party is not even the dominant player in the Selangor government.

No one can deny that, except for that brief experiment, PAS has always been consistent with its Islamist objectives and has never strayed from its purpose of wanting to set up a religious and puritanical society.

For many, due to their anger with the Barisan Nasional as well as for political expediency, they are prepared to pretend decisions made by PAS will not affect them, brushing them off as minor matters or merely distractions for a larger interest.

That was what the Iranians thought when they dumped their Western-backed but corrupt monarch for the ayatollahs. Thirty-two years later, however, many are wondering whether they gave up their human rights and secular lifestyles too.

There is an elected government in Iran but it is the theologians who call the shots, invoking laws in the name of religion and according to their interpretations, which not many of the faithful are prepared to challenge.

In the case of the minorities, their voices are easily suppressed and they are dismissed curtly for their religious ignorance.

Even in Tunisia, after the euphoria of its recent first elections, secular Tunisians are wary about the Islamist-dominated assembly and fear that their civil rights legislation will be reversed.

In Malaysia, we could head down that dangerous road if we are not careful because some of us are being convinced that PAS alone cannot redraw our legal systems.

PAS has decided to go ahead with the implementation of hudud laws in Kelantan, claiming that non-Muslims would not be affected.

One does not need a doctorate in law to know that there can never be two kinds of laws, particularly in civil and criminal matters. So there is no such thing as hudud laws would not affect non-Muslims.

The PAS Supporters Club has been jolted and it is finally realising that this was not part of the bargain.

Better late than never, it can be said, but then the PAS Supporters Club had organised tours to Kelantan and persuaded voters to elect more PAS candidates by claiming non-Muslims would not be affected, thank you very much.

Any objection to PAS’ agenda these days risk being rubbished as propaganda, abused, rebutted or named-called as abuses involving the Barisan. Objecting is surely not for those wanting to seek popularity.

The point is any secular party, whether Umno, the MCA, the DAP, PKR or PPP, would be a better pick than one whose politicians masquerade as religious leaders, insinuating that their words cannot be questioned because they are “men of God”.

Malaysia may not have the best system but we have one that works and functions. There are politicians who claim we are already an Islamic country but the Federal Constitution is pretty clear about the fact that we are still secular. Our legal system is also pretty clear and intact.

For sure, I cannot take seriously those who think Elton John’s song Can You Feel The Love Tonight, soundtrack for the film The Lion King, could be a gay anthem. By the way, one of his hit songs is Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me – it’s sun, not son.

Singapore continues to stage top musicals and concerts in a move to promote itself as a city with top class entertainment. The island republic is doing this so cleverly and has even positioned booths selling tickets in busy Orchard Road, just like in London’s Leicester Square.

Sistic, the leading ticketing agent for Singapore’s arts, entertainment and sporting events, has also appointed local representatives in cities across the region, including Kuala Lumpur.

In short, cities like Seoul and Singapore see the value in having clean evening entertainment for locals and tourists. In Malaysia, however, it’s a struggle for those who are trying to do the same thing.

Faced with anything from bureaucratic red tape and political-religious pressure to a non-supportive government and private sector, concert promoters must sometimes wonder why they are in the business at all.

Every promoter, whether for a local or foreign act, seems to have a story to tell, usually a negative one. They have to go through so many layers of bureaucracy and Little Napoleons who just do not understand that their action, or lack of it, is frustrating the work of promoters.

From the compulsory requirement to submit scripts to complying with Finance Ministry regulations, it is a near nightmare.

In South Korea, the tie-up between K-pop and corporations like LG, Samsung, and Hyundai has helped to market their products globally and the government to reap benefits from tourism.

Two musicals – Datin Seri Tiara Jacquelina’s The Secret Life of Nora and The Star’s In Perfect Harmony – have dominated Kuala Lumpur’s theatre scene for the past two weeks.

In both cases, they were made for love of the local theatre, and in The Star’s case to also commemorate the newspaper’s 40th anniversary. Certainly, making money was not the aim.

A show like Nora would need to run for months in order to break even. Unfortunately, too, there is only one venue that can house a production of this scale, and because the policy is to share the pie among as many people as possible, the organisers always get a limited run. So it’s impossible to recover costs from just one season.

What many don’t realise is that staging a production for a second season involves just as much cost as the first time round. While cost for elements like costumes and sets are fortunately lower, there are still the monthly rental for storage, wear and tear, and repair costs to consider every time the set is taken apart and put together again.

Other cost factors like sound and lights also place a huge burden on production companies as these features do not come with the venue. For Nora, the total expenditure for the sound department alone was more than RM700,000, says Tiara.

Needless to say, ticket sales for most local shows can’t even cover this cost.

For both musicals, there were corporate sponsors but each time organisers want to stage a show, it will be a never-ending round of sales pitches, promotions and promises just to seek sponsorship.

If there is a foreign talent coming in at the same time, like the David Foster and Friends Live in Malaysia Concert 2011, the sponsors could choose to put their budget behind that act. It is never easy to convince corporate Malaysia that investing in a home-grown product has its benefits.

Anyone who has managed to watch Nora and In Perfect Harmony would be convinced that they were class acts and that had a bigger budget been available, they could have easily matched West End/Broadway standards.

But Malaysia can do it if the Government, all the way from the top, makes the arts part of its creative and innovation programme in its national agenda. The policy needs to be clear and have to be discussed with people in the industry to make it workable. Corporations need to know what’s in it for them if they support arts-related products as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. There are tax relief schemes available now but such information has not been widely circulated.

Companies like SP Setia, Maxis, Berjaya, UOB, Celcom and Naza Motor, to name a few, have always given their support for local musicals.

In the words of Tiara, who has produced musicals like Puteri Gunung Ledang and P. Ramlee – the Musical, all of which set new benchmarks, they need our help to keep the passion burning.

So let’s support the likes of Tiara, Dama Orchestra and talents like Douglas Lim and Harith Iskandar.

Support must come not just from the Govern­ment and big companies but also from ordinary Malaysians, especially the well-heeled. Buy tickets for yourself and friends. Don’t ask for free tickets from the organisers and promoters!

In the Maxis-Aircel deal, Dayanidhi is said to have pressured businessman C. Sivan­sankaran – a former owner of Aircel – to sell his stake in Aircel to MCB. In return, as a reward, Astro – owned by Ananda – would buy a 20% stake in Sun TV, owned by Dayanidhi’s elder brother Kalanithi. Sivasankaran claimed that he was forced to sell his shares at “below the prevailing market price”, allegations which were refuted by MCB and Astro.

More money was given to civil servants and pensioners, and there were plans to list the Felda Global Group’s commercial unit, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd, on Bursa Malaysia, which would bring the settlers a windfall. All of this would surely lock in a huge chunk of voters.

There was more – the government offered a one-off RM500 cash handout to households with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below, as well as a RM100 cash aid for primary and secondary pupils (Year 1 to Form 5) and RM200 book vouchers for students.

Ex-members of the special constabulary and auxiliary police as well as widows and widowers would also receive a one-off payment of RM3,000.

The list was impressively long. Everyone got something, in the words of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. In his parting shot, he reminded the Opposition bench that they too would get better allowances starting in January.

But to many analysts, the Budget was tilted in favour of the rural heartland wherein lies the traditional base of Umno and the votes would go strongly to the Barisan Nasional.

The urban middle class isn’t likely to be happy with Budget 2012. While there were provisions that would benefit the middle class, such as the first-time home scheme, tax exemption for contributions to missionary schools and houses of worship and tax incentives for private schools, they do not see direct benefits.

The middle class, which makes up the 2.4 million taxpayers and carries the burden for 27 million people in the country, deserves better.

Although there are 6.4 million registered taxpayers, only 2.4 million are paying up. The rest are ineligible because they are either retired, have stopped working or have incomes below the taxable bracket.

Until the Government has the political courage to impose the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which would be a broad-based consumption tax, there is no possibility of a reduction in personal and corporate taxes.

It would have been unrealistic to expect any such tax reduction, though, but increase in EPF contributions from employers for workers earning more than RM5,000 could have at least brought some cheer to the middle class.

Be that as it may, the middle class must not forget the benefits that they enjoy and which are sometimes taken for granted, such as subsidies for petrol and essential food items, for instance. Also, keeping the sin taxes at current levels would certainly benefit those who need the occasional mug of beer or a pack of cigarettes.

The general consensus is that the Budget has created a feel good factor, and even opposition politicians have conceded this. It is a strong follow-up to the slew of political reforms announced by Najib last month.

The question now is when the Barisan will call for the polls. The challenge would be to take advantage of the momentum that now favours the ruling coalition, especially with surveys showing that Malay voters have returned to the Barisan.

It has been said that one reason why PAS decided to abandon its welfare state plan in favour of an Islamic state was because the party found its share of the Malay votes sliding drastically. Even Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim came out to support the implementation of hudud laws, with an eye on Muslim votes.

The remarks made by PAS deputy president Mohamed Sabu, describing communist leaders as freedom fighters, also scarred the party badly.

There is speculation of a November polls but this writer does not think it will happen. Between Nov 14 and Dec 14, school halls have been booked for the SPM exams and many teachers will be acting as exam invigilators, not as election officials.

The PM is also scheduled to perform his Haj, along with 28,000 Malaysian Muslims, and would be away from November. The last chartered flight out of Mecca is Dec 12.

The much speculated Nov 11 date, which is said to be Najib’s favourite number, also does not hold water or make much political sense as it is a Friday, which is hardly the best day for polls.

From Nov 29 until Dec 3, the Umno general assembly will be held in Kuala Lumpur. Here, the Umno president would make the rallying call to the troops, remind them to close ranks, let him have the mandate to choose the candidates and tell them that losing is not an option.

The monsoon season, from the end of November until end of January, which hits the east coast states every year is also a factor that needs to be considered when setting the date for elections.

Many Malaysians would also be away at this time, taking advantage of the holiday season to clear their leave and to spend time with their families. No one would be in the mood to listen to politicians.

Finally, in January the Barisan would have its final opportunity to win over Chinese voters, many of whom still favour the opposition. Chinese New Year will be on Jan 23 and in the weeks before the celebrations, we can expect the political drums to be louder.

The window period for the polls could be between March and May. Given the uncertainties of the global economy and uncontrolled external forces, Najib has little time left to take advantage of the feel good factors.

It has also ventured outside Malaysia and made its presence felt in Vietnam, Australia, Singapore and even Britain.

The man at the helm of SP Setia is 52-year-old Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, a down-to-earth bank officer-turned-developer.

Some would even say SP Setia is Liew Kee Sin and Liew Kee Sin is SP Setia.

Fiercely proud of his humble beginnings in Johor – his father was a lorry driver – the Universiti Malaya graduate wanted to study law but was offered economics instead.

SP Setia started off as a construction company – a syarikat pembinaan as conveyed in its initials SP.

Liew turned it into a big-time property developer when he injected two projects – Pusat Bandar Puchong and Bukit Indah Ampang – into the company in 1996.

Liew has faced many challenges but he is now looking at the biggest fight of his career – one that is heavily staked against him.

Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), the country’s largest asset manager and owner of 33% of SP Setia, is making a bid to take over the company.

On Friday, PNB bought an additional 23.5 million shares in the open market for RM3.868 a share, just 3.2 sen shy of its proposed takeover price of RM3.90.

PNB, with a RM150bil cash chest, is seeking to raise its stake to over 50% with its RM3.90 offer, which is about an 11% premium over the closing price before the announcement of its notice of takeover.

Such a takeover bid is not unusual in the corporate world, and more so when Liew only has an 11.3% stake in the company.

Other major shareholders of SP Setia include the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) with 13.4%, Kumpulan Wang Amanah Persaraan with 5% and over 40% are in the hands of minority shareholders.

But the manner in which it was done has led to much unhappiness.

Despite having two PNB directors on the board, there was no courtesy of a verbal notification prior to the takeover move.

The general offer notice only reached the company on Wednesday at 8.30am, just before the market opened.

Some may argue that the element of surprise was for strategic reasons but there was still no call even after news broke out of the takeover bid.

In a nutshell, relations have been strained.

PNB has issued a statement saying it wishes to maintain the management team, which is known to be fiercely loyal to Liew, but no one is sure how events will unfold in the coming days.

However, questions have been raised as to why PNB is wanting to take over a company that is being run competently instead of remaining as a passive investor that is satisfied with good investment returns.

If the Government is actively pushing for the private sector to be the engine of growth, we have the right to ask why the GLCs are competing with the private sector.

Widening its shareholding base is one thing but controlling private companies will lead to speculation over its agenda, cause unnecessary concerns as well as send the wrong signals.

The whole exercise will cost PNB RM3bil, which is chicken feed to them, but there are political and economic ramifications that the country’s leaders should take note of.

It may not be such a grand scheme in the end for PNB if Liew decides to leave SP Setia and set up his own venture, and gets his senior management team to join him.

PNB may then find itself in a spot even after gaining control of the company.

No one would believe that there would not be interference from PNB, so let’s not kid Malaysian investors.

Civil servants who manage public funds should leave the business of running businesses and making money to the real businessmen.