COMMENT | Husam Musa, the assemblyperson for Salor in Kelantan, is alim (religious), but he does not wear his religion on his sleeve and he does not pretend that he is "holier than thou", with long ramblings of holy verses.

Husam is a devout Muslim, but he does not portray himself as an Arab by prancing about in a white turban, robes and sporting a goatee.

The economics graduate looks more like a professor than a politician, and this shows when he speaks with passion about his native Kelantan.

He is also a bookworm and when he travels overseas, insists that he visits a few bookshops, to stock his massive home library. Malay leaders are not known to have a penchant for reading, but Husam stands out among the few, like Anwar Ibrahim, Sanusi Junid and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who have voracious appetites for reading.

They open their minds, for they know that real knowledge is power.

Besides books, Kelantan is Husam's top priority and he has often spoken about his wawasan (vision) for the state, which he feels, has been betrayed by PAS.

He is a progressive Muslim and Malay, but in the parlance of PAS, he might as well be considered a liberal, feminist-loving heathen.

Hadi Awang, the president of PAS, couldn't be more different than Husam. It is like comparing a lightweight Proton Saga (Hadi) and the solid dependable Rolls Royce Phantom (Husam). Some will disagree and say that I am being too nice. They think that Hadi is more like a kereta lembu (bullock cart).

Our impression of PAS politicians has been shaped by paranoid rabble-rousers, like Hadi, spewing rhetoric which is against non-Malay, non-Muslim and women.

In seminars, Husam has often used his economic background to shape his arguments, while the focus of PAS president Hadi is on hudud, women's mode of dress and the afterlife.

Husam has often spoken out against illegal logging, which has destroyed Kelantan and deprived its people, including the Orang Asli, of a livelihood. During heavy rainfall, the soil is washed into the waterways, creating muddy, orange-yellow rivers, the colour of the Amanah logo.

As there are no proper flood defences, houses, farmland and crops are washed away. Husam wants to tackle this problem at the source, meaning the illegal logging.

Hadi's explanation for the flooding, if he had one, would probably be to agree with the PAS Youth leader, that it was God punishing the Kelantanese for rejecting hudud.

Formerly a vice-president of PAS, Husam was once the protégé of the party's spiritual leader, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat (photo), but after the Tok Guru's death, Husam's views about bringing Kelantan into the 21st century did not resonate with Hadi...