Former PAS central committee member Hanipa Maidin broke down in tears today while recalling the good times he has had as the party's lawyer.

While cheerful at first, Hanipa became sombre and emotional when recalling the help given to him by late PAS headquarters staffer Syed Mohamad Syed Hassan.

"My sweetest memory was after the 2004 general elections; for two weeks we PAS lawyers were holed up in a room at the (PAS office) in Taman Melewar (preparing election petitions).

"What many do not know is that the one who helped us the most was the late Syed Mohamad.

"He brought us coffee at night," Hanipa ( photo ) said, before choking up and breaking down in tears.

"He was the one who helped us photostat (documents)," he said in between sobs, prompting Youth Chief Nik Abduh Nik Aziz to come to the podium with a box of tissues.

"He was the one who helped us most when we were preparing election petitions; we slept there, we bathed there (in Taman Melewar)," he added, before ending his speech abruptly.

He was presenting the PAS lawyers' annual report at the muktamar.

Syed Mohamad passed away in January 2012 at the age of 62. He has been dubbed as one of PAS' unsung heroes.

Sneaked out at night

Hanipa earlier told delegates how he had joined PAS while still in boarding school.

He was inspired to become a lawyer after debating with his principal who had wanted to take disciplinary action against him for sneaking out of his hostel to go to a PAS ceramah.

" Alhamdulillah , after that I went to university, became a lawyer, and am now with the PAS lawyers' group.

"I am proud that through this platform I can help PAS members and our leaders, the champion of whom must be Mohamad Sabu whose job is to get into jail, and our job is to get him out," he said in full spirits.

Hanipa's speech about the good old days comes after he and almost all of PAS' pro-Pakatan progressives were purged from the party's central leadership by the ulama faction in Thursday's party elections.