PAS dances to its own tune
It was apparent that members have yet to forget the episode where PAS was marginalised and outplayed by the Umno-dominated BN in the 1970s in Kelantan, the party's stronghold.
Written by Sharon Tan, The Edge
Party elections conducted, results announced, victors and the defeated made their speeches. So where does PAS go from here?
There are several outcomes from the party's 55th muktamar.
Firstly, it is obvious that the ulamak will continue to dominate the party leadership in years to come. At the Dewan Ulamak assembly last Thursday, the wing passed a resolution where it wanted the top two positions to be reserved for ulamak and the three vice-president posts be divided equally between the ulamak, liberals and activists.
The resolution was not passed at the main assembly.
However, the election results reflected the strength of the ulamak. Both the Youth and women's wings are headed by conservatives.
Secondly, the party must take note that while the liberals or Erdogan faction may have seen its leader Datuk Husam Musa defeated in his bid for deputy presidency, it was this faction that has softened the party's hardliner image and endeared the party to the non-Muslims.
The liberals form the bridge to the non-Muslims and that is something that PAS wants to keep for a long time because it will need the support of the non-Muslims if it is to be relevant in Malaysian politics.
Interestingly, there is enough presence of liberals among the vice-presidents and central working committee to act as checks and balances against the ulamak, to keep the party closer to the middle ground than to swing to either extreme.
With a significant presence at the apex body, the liberals should use the time to woo the grassroots before they make another attempt at the top leadership at the next party conference.
Thirdly, while party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang wants to continue to hold talks with Umno, the matter has not gone down well with party members. The delegates practically hijacked the debate session during the emergency motion on setting up a Royal Commission to investigate the "power grab" by Barisan Nasional (BN) in Perak to air their views on the unity talks.
They made it clear that talks with Umno and the concept of unity government was far from their minds.
It was apparent that members have yet to forget the episode where PAS was marginalised and outplayed by the Umno-dominated BN in the 1970s in Kelantan, the party's stronghold.
Fourthly, the dynamics in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) may change as PAS' coalition partners — DAP and PKR — would obviously be uncomfortable with deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa's statement of never closing its doors to talks with any parties.
PAS will have some explaining to do to its partners in PR who are dead set against Umno and BN.
While some claimed that PAS is sending out mixed signals, the truth is PAS is dancing to its own tune.
Just like a beautiful woman with many admirers, PAS knows it has the right to keep its options open and strike deals with whomever it feels can further its Islamic agenda, which is the root of the party's existence.
