As Pakatan Rakyat crumbles, many are wondering what happened to PAS that was to become more progressive, and open to all Malaysians?

The answer appears to be that a progressive PAS is no more than a media-created myth.

Political analyst Wan Saiful Wan Jan told Malaysiakini today this myth was perpetuated by the media, which often picked up statements from the progressive faction.

"What has happened in the past is that the progressives have been more vocal, and their statements are often picked up by the media.

"This gave the impression that PAS has changed, when in fact conservatism has always been there, and is the dominant idea in PAS. It has never changed," he said.

He said this when asked if PAS had become more hardline under the leadership of new spiritual leader Harun Din.

Three weeks ago, PAS approved a motion to cut ties with DAP, setting off a chain reaction that has led DAP to call the Pakatan coalition dead.

Many have said this would never have happened under the leadership of Harun's predecessor, the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who was pro-Pakatan.

Personal grudge?

Wan Saiful also dismissed speculation that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was destroying Pakatan due to an alleged decades-old grudge he has held against PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The rivalry between the two is said to have stemmed when they were competing to be young Muslim leaders back in the 1980s

"I think the problem faced by Pakatan today, is the problem of today. Even if it does have a history going back 20-30 years, I don't think it's beneficial to analyse it that far," said Wan Saiful.

The Ideas chief executive also dismissed allegations that the split was due to hudud either, as PAS' struggle to implement the syariah criminal law predates Pakatan.

"(The break up is because of) a break down in relationship and in trust, and that is the biggest contributor to the split.

"The current PAS leadership is behaving in a very unreasonable way, completely disrespectful of the relationship they have within Pakatan.

"But at the same time DAP has also been attacking PAS too vigorously," he added.

Don't accept appointments

Meanwhile, on the appointment of three defeated progressives to PAS' central committee, Wan Saiful said they should not accept it.

"If they (Sallahudin Ayub, Mahfuz Omar, Mohd Taufek Abdul Ghani) were to accept the appointments, they would merely be poster boys with no real influence of power.

"The conservatives want to use these poster boys to show that there is no problem between the conservatives and the progressives," he said.

PAS’ progressive camp suffered crushing defeat in the Muktamar, and were purged from the PAS leadership by conservative ulama leaders.