PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has called on party members not to be dispirited by its crushing defeat in the general election last March as the party had gone through more difficult times in the past.

In his policy speech at the party's 50th muktamar (general assembly) entitled " Memartabatkan Kedaulatan Rakyat " (enhancing the people's sovereignty), Abdul Hadi said party members must not give up easily as success cannot be attained without sacrifices.

He said although PAS' performance was worst when compared to its achievement in 1999, the party continues to be strong and ready to face obstacles thrown by its political opponents.

"The party struggle has never been easy and the difficult situation will not improve in the future and so we must be ready to face the challenges. Although we lost a lot of (parliament and state) seats and a state government, as pious Muslims, we must accept it as tests set by Allah and be grateful for the few (seats) that we had won," he said.

He admitted that there is a need for the party to undergo an analytical process to improvise the current party administration.

"Our party needs a process to analyze all decisions that we have made before and look for new ideas. If there is any weakness, we should reconstruct all actions and strategies. I am confident of the party's capability to succeed because we bring the message of Islam," he said.

As for criticisms against the party, Abdul Hadi said although the party welcomes strategic changes, it will not change its basic policy which is based on the teachings of Islam.

"There are parties who said that we took wrong approaches, that we failed to assimilate into national politics. Some said that the Islamic system that we offer is not attractive at all we are open to criticisms with an open mind for it allow us to look at our weaknesses and improve them."

"However, we refuse to entertain any views that suggest that Islam is irrelevant to the multi racial society in Malaysia," he said.

Secular Malays

The PAS chief also said that the party's failure to achieve its objective in the last election was not because the people had rejected the party but due to "powerful secular Malays", who rejects Islamic politics.

"PAS' failure to achieve its objective is not because it was rejected by the people but it is due to secular Malays in power that rejects Islam politics after World War II. With the power they hold, they restrict the people from making alternative choices."

He also said their recent electoral defeat was caused by various unfair actions by the Election Commission (EC), skewered media reports and Barisan Nasional (BN) dirty election tactics.

At a press conference later, Abdul Hadi was asked whether PAS will emulate Umno's so-called moderate Islamic approaches.

"We must realize that PAS struggles has two aspects which is principle and policy. Our principles and policies will not change because it is based on Islam. Umno's policy changes because it is not based on Islam. That's why they keep coming with different policies," he said.

"Don't be surprise if their current "Islam Hadhari" policy will disappear soon. But unlike them, we will continue our struggle with the policy and principle that we have always stick to.

Islam Hadhari, or Islamic management principles, is a concept introduced by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during the March 21 general election to counter PAS' Islamic state concept.

As to the PAS youth wing's call for changes within the party, the role of the ulama in particular, he said that he leaves it to members to decide whether they agree with the youth wing.

"We will continue with our image. What is important is that we continue to spread our message including to the non-Muslims. We have succeeded in breaking down the wall with the non-Muslims and I believe with more effort we will succeed even more," he said.