PAS vice-president Mustafa Ali will not be defending his Dungun parliamentary seat in the coming general election so that he could better assist party president Abdul Hadi Awang in running the state government in Terengganu.

Sources close to the state leadership told malaysiakini that the plan would allow Abdul Hadi to devote more time as the parliamentary Opposition Leader, thus making Mustafa - who is known to be a competent administrator - the state's " de facto mentri besar".

"Mustafa is expected to defend only his Pengkalan Berangan state seat while his Dungun parliamentary seat will be taken by another senior party member," said a party source.

"We don't think that Tuan Guru (Hadi) will face any difficulty in retaining his Marang (parliament) and Ru Rendang (state) seats."

This was confirmed by Hadi this morning, who said that Mustafa had expressed his intentions to concentrate solely on his responsibilities in Terengganu.

"However Pas leaders in Dungun want him to continue representing them at the federal level. The party leaders will now have to make a decision on this matter," said Hadi at a press conference held in his house in Rusila, Kuala Terengganu.

Sources also said that Hadi plans to form a formidable opposition team in parliament by getting top leaders in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) - its ally in the Barisan Alternatif front - elected as MPs.

A number of key Keadilan leaders have been offered to run in 'safe' parliament seats in Kelantan and Terengganu.

"Among those considered is Badrulamin Bahron who is likely to contest in Besut and there are talks that Keadilan deputy chief Dr Syed Husin Ali may be contesting in Kota Bharu," said the source.

PAS No 2 to stay out

Another interesting development is that Abdul Hadi's party deputy Hassan Shukri - who is currently a senator - has decided to abstain from running in the coming elections.

Although the move may seem strange as Hassan is the party's No 2, insiders are not surprised considering that the recently elected PAS deputy chief has stop contesting in elections since 1990.

"The last time he ran was in Batu where he had lost his deposit. Since then, he informed the party that he would not be contesting in polls. However, I don't know if his bitter experience (in Batu) is the real reason for his unwillingness to contest," said a party source.

Meanwhile, PAS party worker and journalist, Mohamad Rashidi Hassan, told malaysiakini that Hassan's decision not to contest alludes to his "sincere and unselfish" style of leadership.

"He is very comfortable with his low-profile image. In fact, he was never keen in contesting for elections as he can help out the party in other ways. He ran in 1986 due to peer pressure. If he had a choice, he wouldn't have ran that year," he said.

Rashidi, however, conceded that it was quite peculiar for the second-in-command of one of the most powerful party in the country not to stand for the elections.

He suggested that other party leaders should nominate Hassan to run in a "safe seat".

"Anyone in the top ranking of any party should be given a safe seat. I don't know if such an offer would change his mind but it's worth a try," said Rashidi.

Harun Din on the way up

However, another party source who is also a political writer, claimed that attempts to persuade Hassan to run for elections have been made in the past.

"PAS leaders in Kelantan and Terengganu have no problems offering him a safe seat at the states and it has been done in the past with other leaders like Mohamad Sabu (who ran and won in Kelantan previously), but the issue here is that he (Hassan) is not prepared to take up the challenge," he said.

Hassan's unreadiness to contest also indicated that his leadership in the Islam-based party may be short-lived, said another party insider.

He said that it may not be long before PAS information chief Dr Harun Din, a popular spiritual healer, climb the party leaders to be next-in-line after Hadi.

"Dr Harun is expected to run in both state parliament and state seats in Perlis. This shows that the party not only wants him to play a bigger role in the state but also at the federal level," said the source.

He said that the development that followed the party's recent general assembly clearly shows that Harun is on the way up the party hierarchy, as compared to Hassan who won the deputy chief post after beating favourite, Mustafa.

"Although Hassan won the deputy chief post, the publicity on him has been nil since, even in PAS' own party organ Harakah . He failed to make an impact as a party leader while Dr Harun's excellent performance cannot be denied," he said.