Ibrahim Ali calls new PAS leadership ‘Anwar’s voice’
By G Manimaran, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali mocked the new PAS leadership as merely Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s voice, saying today the internal elections have not changed the Islamist party’s outlook.
Ibrahim said Anwar’s influence will still remain in the party if PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang continue to be at the helm.
“Anwar’s voice in PAS is determined by Datuk Nik Aziz and Hadi who has become a stooge… the others are not relevant… True, there are the Erdogans, ulamas and others but all do not have any influence except for Datuk Nik Aziz and Hadi the stooge,” he said in a statement.
Ibrahim won the Pasir Mas federal seat on a PAS ticket in Election 2008 but repudiated the party and became an independent MP. He has aligned himself with Umno on most issues.
Ibrahim’s comments came after popular PAS leader Mohamad Sabu won the party deputy presidency today with 420 votes, leading a group of progressive leaders to counter conservatives who prefer to link up with Umno.
Mohamad, popularly known as Mat Sabu, defeated incumbent Nasharudin Mat Isa, who received only 224 votes, and vice-president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, who came second with 399 votes. A total of 1,100 delegates voted in this year’s party elections.
In the vice-presidential race, incumbent Salahuddin Ayub took top spot with 753 votes, Datuk Husam Musa was second with 660 votes while another incumbent Datuk Mahfuz Omar kept his post with 616 votes.
The party poll was billed as a contest between the party’s conservative ulama faction and the professionals (dubbed the Erdogans in a reference to progressive Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan).
Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali also criticised Mohamad’s credibility, saying the newly-elected deputy was not fit for the office.
“Mat Sabu only studied in ITM and did not even finish, he is not even a religious studies graduate from the Middle East. It is an embarrassment to the ulama faction in PAS because Mat Sabu has no academic qualifications while the Erdogans are disappointed because Mat Sabu does not support Anwar,” said Syed Hassan through a text message.
He added that Mat Sabu had once called the opposition leader as Anwar al-Juburi or Anwar the anus, referring to the latter’s sodomy trials.
