Most of us would like to believe the recent foreign press commentaries, that PAS has found its winning formula by the election of “reformist leaders to top posts, shunning hard-line clerics” in its 51st muktamar (Washington Post, Jun 8). Or that the election of “Western-educated” Nasharuddin Mat Isa, as No 2 brings a promise of change.

As an aside, the foreign coverage is stereotypical. “Reformist” is equated with “Western”. “Hard-line clerics” are “fundamentalists”, as in not pro-reform or perhaps not pro-democracy.

But “hard-line cleric” Abdul Hadi Awang asserts that he is pro-democracy, “PAS akan memulihkan semula demokrasi di Negara ini yang semakin usang dan hampir lumpuh” (Harakahdaily.net, June 9).