Allegations of a plot to topple PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang may be one of the reasons why former central committee member Hatta Ramli lost his post in the muktamar.

Hatta said this in reference to attacks against the WhatsApp group called the ' Hawaii Five-O ', in which the Kuantan PAS Youth division had accused him of being one of the masterminds of such an alleged plot.

Following the accusations, a special committee was formed to investigate. Members include Mahfuz Omar, Salahuddin Ayub, Idris Ahmad, Mahfodz Mohamed, Mustafa Ali and Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil.

However, the accuser, Kuantan PAS Youth chief Fadhli Ibrahim had failed to present himself to the committee when called to give his explanation.

“He said that he was not confident with the six members of the committee,” said Hatta ( photo ), who pointed out that the committee was "balanced".

Fadhli again did not make himself present when he was called in the second time.

On this, Hatta said action should be taken against his accuser, but he did not force the central leadership to do so.

“But I was facing the party elections. I, too, wanted to go into the elections with a clear name.

“[…] In the end, that’s why I only managed to get 368 votes,” he said.

WhatsApp chats and a declaration

The demonstration, which was held on Feb 8, saw PAS members rallying against party leaders they claimed were out to unseat Hadi.

Fadhli had singled out Hatta as the main mover against Hadi.

Protestors had demanded the resignations of Hatta as well as that of former PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, PAS vice-president Husam Musa, PAS Muslimat election director Aiman Athirah and PasMa chief Pharolrazi Zawawi- resignation.

Fadhli ( in green shirt, photo ) had revealed a series of screenshots of Whatsapp conversations between PAS members and leaders which he said was evidence of a conspiracy against the Hadi-led ulama in PAS.

 

He also produced a statutory declaration (SD) backing the authenticity of the WhatsApp conversations.

 

Among the purported members of the said chat group were Hatta, Aiman and one ‘Nie Feng @ Mazhar Yusof’.

 

The statutory declaration, which had the name and personal details of the person who made it blacked out, said Hatta had called four PAS exco members 'barua' (lackeys)  for the sacking Anwar Ibrahim as the state economic advisor during troubled former Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim's administration.

 

The chat also purportedly showed Aiman supporting PasMa.