Will the ‘fourth floor boys’ strike again?

(NST) – ARE problems brewing between Pas' two most influential eminences, president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat?

Or is it merely a perceived conflict over secret talks for some sort of merger or unity government with Umno?

Close aides of the two leaders have rubbished any power struggle, admitting only that there were differing opinions on some issues.

They say the two leaders are not oblivious of potentially damaging developments within the party, attributing most of them to excitement in the run-up to party elections early next month.

Whatever the reasons behind the re-ignited war between their supporters, Hadi and Nik Aziz will in no way allow the public spat to drag on. Both are due back in the country this weekend — Hadi after attending an engagement in Indonesia and Nik Aziz after performing umrah in Saudi Arabia — and are expected to put an end to the polemic.

If what has been said in the media and cyberspace is taken at face value, Pas appears to be facing a major split with two camps fighting for ascendency at the coming muktamar — the ulama faction that backs Hadi and the pro-Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim "Erdogan" group, named after Anwar's purportedly close ties with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The factionalism surfaced when delegates took each other on in heated debates over the Pas-Umno unity talks at last year's muktamar.

Though the muktamar resolved that Pas should remain committed to Pakatan Rakyat, ripples continued to surface, the latest being a blog posting by Nik Aziz's son Nik Abduh, in which he blamed his father's personal assistants for the friction with Hadi over the unity government the latter proposed in March.

Hadi has since retracted the proposal because of the change of leadership in Umno.

Nik Abduh, a 39-year-old graduate of Cairo's Al Azhar University, is a national Pas Youth executive councillor and Kelantan Pas Youth deputy chief.

He accused the assistants of distorting the unity proposal for political mileage, resulting in his father's rejection of the idea.

Nik Abduh said it was evident his father had changed his mind about the unity government after he stopped making statements against it after meeting Hadi recently.

Nik Aziz had earlier dismissed Hadi's proposal and repeatedly expressed his displeasure, at one point ticking off the president with a reminder that as mursyidul am and head of the Majlis Syura Ulama, he and not Hadi was "captain of the ship".

Questions have been raised as to who Nik Aziz's "fourth floor boys" are, those Nik Abduh accused of ill advice for their own gain. No names were mentioned in his blog entry but the accused certainly know who they are.

A unity government is not unfamiliar to Pas, which joined Barisan Nasional in 1973.

The issue no doubt will dominate debate at the coming muktamar.

Will it also influence the election of the new Pas line-up?