PAS gets its ulama leaders dream - or nightmare?

comments     Radzi Razak     Published     Updated

ANALYSIS PAS at its muktamar last week finally got its dream of an ulama leadership team, with almost all of the leaders elected known to hold loyalty to the stand and will of their re-elected president, Abdul Hadi Awang.

After the central committee’s first meeting, which is traditionally held to appoint additional members to serve the central committee, the leadership will wait for two more weeks to announce the names of those appointed.

PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man confirmed yesterday that defeated members from the progressive faction were offered six appointed slots in the party’s highest leadership structure, including that of secretary-general.

There is wide speculation that the need to wait for so long to announce the names of those offered the appointed posts is because these people would not accept the offer.

The problem is not only with posts offered in the central leadership,  but to those in the Youth and Muslimat (Women’s) wings as well.

The new PAS Youth leadership, which held its first meeting on June 8, will only announce its full committee close to the end of this month.

Its new chief, Nik Abduh Nik Aziz ( photo ), said in a statement that the committee members and their portfolios would be announced after the second Youth committee meeting and after a series of visits to several states for a “bottom-up management review” during the Ramadan month.

New Muslimat chief Nuridah Mohd Salleh also released a similar statement, saying her committee and portfolios would be announced later.

Danger if progressives distance themselves?

It is seen as a danger for the PAS leadership if these progressive leaders, who have been actively involved in the party’s struggles and are well known nationally, distance themselves from the new leadership.

PAS, which has been growing into a more national and prominent party after the divorce from Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (APU) in the early 90s, when the leadership was taken over by Fadzil Noor, and who went on to helm the most effective opposition coalition in the country with PKR and DAP.

Now, PAS is seen to be returning to its “East Coast regional party” status, one that will only enjoy support from the rural Malays, especially those in Kelantan.

Today, Mujahid Yusof Rawa ( photo ), a former central committee member and PAS national unity bureau chairperson, and Hanipa Maidin, the former law and human rights bureau chairperson, announced that they would not accept any post offered to them by the party.

It has now come to the point that the sole non-ulama member who was elected to the PAS central committee, Mazlan Aliman, is mulling resigning from his position.

Former PAS Muslimat deputy chief and welfare and community bureau chief Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud and former Youth committee member Abang Ahmad Kerdee have also said they preferred to focus on their constituencies instead of taking on party duties at the national level, effectively snubbing any such offers to them.

This is the first time in recent years that members from the losing faction in PAS are declining to accept the leadership fully and they not want to get involved with it.

Celebrity Wan Aishah is also frustrated

On top of this, two days ago, former singer Wan Aishah Wan Ariffin, who went on to became a PAS celebrity poster girl, posted her frustration and rejection of the new leadership.

Wan Aishah ( photo ) said on her Facebook page that she had rejected her appointment as a member of the party’s cultural and recreational bureau.

"Why are the ustazah looking for the ‘jebon-jebon parasit’ (parasites) in PAS?" she said sarcastically.

"The ustazah should look for other ustazah to do the work and not taint the new leadership's purity. Say no to appointments," she wrote, referring to the scathing nickname of ‘parasites’ given by the ulama supporters to the progressive faction members of PAS.

Yesterday, new central committee member Dr Zuhdi Marzuki said the two-week delay in announcing the offers of appointed posts was necessary to make sure that all the positions could be filled with those who could serve the party.

“If they (the losing fa ction) do not accept, we will appoint someone else,” Zuhdi ( photo ) said to reporters waiting in the lobby of the PAS headquarters.

But come June 21, will we see even one progressive member work with the new leadership?

Or will PAS, the party which arguably was the most stable of the three Pakatan parties when the coalition was formed just before the 2008 general election, endure its own version of a brain drain?

Malaysiakini understands that efforts to offer the olive branch to the defeated progressive team members are now being carried out. However, having observed PAS politics in recent years, this is one issue that cannot be solved in a fortnight.


RADZI RAZAK is a member of the Malaysiakini Team.



Malaysiakini
news and views that matter


Sign In