PAS splinter party Berjasa recruits Anwar's former aide Ezam for GE15 ‘boost’

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 ― Former senator Datuk Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor is now a member of Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa).

The PAS splinter party’s secretary-general Muhammad Lukman Al Hakim Muhammad confirmed confirmed Ezam joined on May 1, adding that Berjasa has been seeing an “encouraging increase in membership over the past year”.

“Berjasa, which is well-known as a new leadership party that features a political style based on integrity, wisdom and defending the homeland, is always open and honoured to accept any political figure or national figure who agrees with the party's agenda and principles.

“Hopefully, with the participation of Datuk Ezam, he will be able to boost the party's work, especially in the run-up to GE15,” he said in the statement.

Muhammad Lukman added that Berjasa is open to forming a political consensus even as he claimed the country is suffering from a credibility crisis purportedly due to the greed of major political parties.

Berjasa was founded in 1977 by former Kelantan mentri besar Datuk Muhamed Nasir after he was expelled from PAS. It is currently led by Zamani Ibrahim.

In the 2018 general election, Berjasa formed a political pact with PAS under Gagasan Sejahtera and ran but lost in three seats.

Ezam’s political career started with Umno.

He was Umno Youth chief for the South Petaling Jaya division in Selangor from 1993 until 1996 and later became the state Umno secretary from 1996 to 1998.

In 1998, he rose to become the Umno vice-chief for the party’s Petaling Jaya Selatan division.

He was among the early members of Parti Keadilan Nasional ― which later merged with Parti Rakyat Malaysia to become the present day PKR – and became political secretary to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when the latter was sacked from the government.

Ezam was once PKR Youth chief and was seen as a rival to Datuk Seri Azmin Ali who was his colleague when Anwar was the deputy prime minister in 1997.

But Ezam left PKR in 2008 after a dispute with both Anwar and Azmin before rejoining Umno and was appointed a senator.

He then left Umno in 2016 over the 1MDB financial scandal and joined Bersatu, only to walk out three months later.

In 2020, Ezam tried to return to PKR, reviving his NGO Gerak98 and holding roadshows in support for Anwar.