KUALA SELANGOR, June 4 — Hundreds of PAS members have flocked into the sleepy coastal town of Kuala Selangor for its muktamar, or annual congress, this week, bringing with it an atmosphere not unlike a team retreat.
Over the past two years, the 64-year-old Islamist party has nearly been torn in two over its direction, after the last muktamar in September left a black mark on the party with the blatant friendly fire and histrionics.
Ever since the divisive PAS polls in 2013, the progressives and the ulama, or the clergy class, have played a game of tug-of-war as both try to exert their influences and strong-arm each other either in intra-party or inter-party politics.
A cease fire was barely achieved last year when the party decided that it needs both factions to stay strong, but the current political climate — issues of implementing hudud, and relations in Pakatan Rakyat — have put the two sides back on a collision course.
At long last, away from the hustle and bustle, the party delegates will be asked to choose with their ballot papers this evening, which faction will lead the party for the next two years.
Battle of the ‘Awang brothers’
The contest shows that the faction war is real and the divide is between those who are comfortable with the status quo and those who wish for reform in the party.
Ahmad is bucking the trend in more ways than one. Not only has Hadi stayed unchallenged as president since 2002, but there has never been an open contest for the post for over half a century now.
However, despite his long history with the party, observers believe that the reality is Ahmad’s popularity inside the party is starkly lesser than the support he gets from those outside PAS.
“I don’t see anybody would disagree that Ahmad will never win this coming PAS presidential election. Ahmad is an underdog in the match, moreover, as compared to Hadi, Ahmad is seen by the grassroots as not much of a stalwart as Hadi,” said Dr Maszlee Malik, a political analyst from International Islamic University Malaysia.
“Essentially, Hadi is far too charismatic than Ahmad in the eyes of the many young and first-time delegates in the muktamar.
“Especially in terms of his zealotry in defending PAS’ sacred cow, the hudud.”
Ahmad seems to have only a slim chance of unseating Hadi, who has had years to cement his position, and the underdog admitted as much that he would be happy just to prevent the incumbent from leaving unscathed.
“Even if I were to lose, surely I would not get just a measly 100 votes out of around 1,000 delegates?” asked Ahmad in a recent forum in the capital, which was attended by many of his supporters from within and outside the party.
“Let’s say, if I were to get 500 votes and the winner gets 550, then he will think ‘I can’t play around like this; there is a lot of people who do not really like me’.
“Then, he will start to think. Even if he does not think that, others surrounding him will.”
Confident in his position, Hadi has been truculent in the manner he approached ties with PR, prompting one ally at least to sever ties with him specifically.
Straight fights bleeding PAS dry
While Ahmad did not enter the ring to oust the conservative faction in PAS, it appears to be a different story elsewhere as challengers are lining up for virtually all the top posts in the party and its wings held by those perceived as professionals.
Leaving little to chance, the Ulama wing yesterday issued a “cai” — a “menu” of endorsed candidates aligned to Hadi — that it urged delegates to support in an apparent attempt to remove all traces of the professionals from the party leadership.
Similar menus were also distributed for the Youth and women’s Muslimat wing online, such as on the pro-ulama Facebook page “Geng Ustaz Cintakan Ulama”.
Many of the “cai” portrayed the elections as a straight fight between Team Hadi and Team Ahmad.
Incumbent deputy president Mohamad Sabu will face vice-president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, in a contest that many feel will leave the party for the worse as it would mean losing one of the two important party figures.
“If you take one faction over the other, PAS will be crippled … Both of them have their own strength, so when one faces the other, one is bound to be slashed. That is a loss actually,” former Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview, referring to Mohamad and Tuan Ibrahim.
“If only both of them could have stayed,”
Suhaizan, a progressive leader, had himself lost his post yesterday, defeated by Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz, a former Youth deputy chief and the son of the party’s late spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
A similar contest is also seen in the Muslimat wing, with incumbent chief Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff challenged by Nuridah Salleh who heads the wing’s Federal Territories chapter.
Heated fights will occur in the grab for the three vice-president posts, with information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar trying to rejoin his former comrades, incumbents Datuk Husam Musa and Salahuddin Ayub, after losing out to Tuan Ibrahim in 2013.
The trio, widely seen as progressives, will face challenges from Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, Selangor PAS commissioner Iskandar Abdul Samad, and central working committee member Idris Ahmad, all endorsed by the Ulama wing.
Make or break for the progressives
In 2013, more candidates seen to be aligned to PAS’s influential ulama faction — who make up the opposition party’s soul — were voted into the party’s central working committee, matching the candidates seen as representing PAS’ progressives.
This year could see the latter lose more ground, particularly if delegates are swayed by the smear campaign painting the professionals as lackeys kowtowing to PR partner DAP, something that was oft-repeated during the Ulama wing’s muktamar yesterday.
“Hadi should definitely thank DAP for their continuous negative comments and attacks against him that indirectly has enhanced the presumption that Ahmad is representing DAP interest in the contest.
“Here, DAP has helped to further instil the perception saying that the progressives of PAS are nothing but DAP proxies in the Islamic party,” Maszlee told Malay Mail Online.
With their wipeout looking imminent, several progressive leaders were however defiantly confident that a mix between the clergy class, the professionals and the activists will stay, banking on delegates to make a rational decision for the sake of the party.
“Irrespective of whoever wins, PAS will carry on. Its policy has to be continued. If it doesn’t, it has to face the consequences of the action
“It’s not so much of the personalities, it’s the direction of the party. Not the other way around,” central working committee member Khalid Abd Samad told Malay Mail Online.
“If the delegates throw out all the professionals, after this such people will never wish to enter PAS again.
“And you will be left with the clerics. What will happen to PAS?
“If it becomes like that, PAS might as well be religious preachers, a missionary movement,” warned member Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib in a recent forum on PAS’ future.
Over 1,000 PAS delegates from across the country will cast their votes this afternoon, with results announced as soon as counting finishes, even as late as midnight tonight.
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