KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — Three leaders of PAS’s progressive faction made it back into the party’s clergy-controlled Central Working Committee (CWC) today, although their appointments were to lower level positions than those previously held.
Datuk Mustafa Ali who was previously the party’s secretary-general is now the elections director, replacing Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli, while Datuk Mahfuz Omar who was PAS information chief is now a CWC member along with Salahuddin Ayub, formerly a vice-president.
Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan is the party’s new secretary-general while Ulama council member Nasrudin Hassan is the information chief, replacing Mahfuz.
Federal Territories PAS commissioner Mohamad Noor Mohamad, a staunch supporter of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, has been appointed as party treasurer, replacing Asmuni Awi, another fallen progressive.
On June 3, ahead of its muktamar or annual congress, PAS’s powerful Ulama wing called for delegates to support its list of candidates comprising only conservatives or “professionals” seen as aligned to the clergy class, a move indicative of its intention to wipe out those seen as progressives from the central leadership lineup.
In its list, which was posted on its Facebook page the same day, the Ulama Wing urged delegates to continue backing Abdul Hadi who has been president since 2002 while endorsing Tuan Ibrahim to oust the incumbent party Number Two, Mohamad Sabu, a progressive favoured by the DAP.
The wing also wanted the conservatives to hold all of the three vice-presidential posts, and endorsed the likes of Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah and Selangor executive councillor Datuk Iskandar Abd Samad, both of whom are known to be loyal to Hadi.
On June 4, the watershed win in the polls saw PAS’s incumbent president Abdul Hadi back at the helm of the 64-year-old Islamist party, that has been for the past few months wracked by a so-called faction war.
The clergy class, or ulama, trounced the party progressives in a near-total takeover of PAS, winning 22 out of the 23 posts open for contest in the Islamist party’s CWC.
