The outcome of the contest for the PAS Youth wing's working committee showed an equal support for both the ulama (conservative) and professional factions.

However, the grassroots support looked to be leaning slightly towards the ulama as the faction dominated the top half, garnering most votes compared to the professional faction.

pas youth muktamar 55 perak delegates black shirt and armband 040609 01 Among the elected candidates were party spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat's son Nik Abdul Nik Aziz who garnered 194 votes but his votes could not surpass Riduan Mad Nor who bagged 197 votes. Both of them are from the ulama faction.

Apart from them, ulama leaders Mohd Firdaus Jaafar who is also Jerai parliamentarian garnered 176 votes, Mohd Nazri Chik Zain (165), Padang Terap MP Nasir Zakaria (152) and Kamal Ashari (145) topped the chart for having the most votes. All of them are from the ulama faction.

Meanwhile, Sahaizan Kaiyat, a former lecturer from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), in Johor was the only professional who bagged the most votes at the top half.

Besides that, Kamaruzzaman Mohamad, who is also Federal Territory Youth chief managed to bag 139 votes, Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil (139), Mohamad Adram Musa (135), lawyer Abdullah Abdul Karim (127) and Dr Raja Ahmad Iskandar (126).

pas youth perak delegates wear black shirt and armbands 040609 05 Instead of 278 delegates, only 229 delegates cast their votes earlier today. The 12 newly-elected working committee members will be in charge of various party wing's portfolios under the new leadership of Nasruddin Hassan.

Nasruddin had won the wing's chief post without a contest. He replaced Salahuddin Ayub who did not contest to retain the post.

The result was announced by Youth election committee president Hassan Sukri.

‘Stop talking about ulama factions'

In another development, a delegate from Negeri Sembilan said he was fed up with the continuous talk of the fight between the ulama and professional factions.

Describing it as "an old issue", Khairil Anuar Mohd Wafa said that the matter "has been put to rest a long time ago".

pas youth perak delegates wear black shirt and armbands 040609 06 "I have no idea why the media like to play up these two factions... during the caliph's era, there was no issue of ulama and professionals working together as a team," he said during a debate.

He also added that the ulama faction was crucial in shaping up the party especially to keep a check and give advice to members and the public as a whole.

"If (ulama) is keeping quiet, how could they give advice? Most importantly, they can't be seen like a parrot, who agrees to whatever people say and are not brave enough to be vocal towards others," he said.

Instead, Khairul said that ulama should not seek any publicity and become other people's "spokesperson".

Echoing the same, Pahang delegate Shahril Azman Abd Halim said that ulama leadership was vital in order to stand apart from rivals Umno.

"If we don't have ulama leadership, then we can't have Islamic leadership in our party," he said.

The muktamar this year is widely seen as ideological war between the two factions.

Lack of recognition for Nizar

Meanwhile, a PAS youth delegate from Malacca said that the movement should become a pressure group not only to the party top leadership but also for Pakatan Rakyat as well.

Kamaruddin Sidek said that the PAS Youth wing should also be competing against their allies in Pakatan in order to portray the movement's strong contribution towards changing the nation's political landscape.

With this, he added, the top leadership should consider establishing a Pakatan council emulating the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional's.

He further claimed that many delegates "still failed to point out to the state government leaders" on their mistakes after taking over five states in the previous general election.

Kamaruddin also noted that ousted Pakatan menteri besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin from Perak was not even invited for official visits in any of the other Pakatan states, indicating as though the Pakatan leaders there do not recognise him as the legitimate menteri besar.

"Nizar was only brought to the other states to give ceramah (speeches), but then no Pakatan-led state government invited him for an official visit as a symbolic move to recognise Nizar as the legitimate MB," he said.