PAS’ Islamist duo set to rattle party
Datuk Dr Hasan Ali and fellow PAS leader Nasharuddin Mat Isa are looking out of synch with the party’s leadership but both have solid support behind them, which could unsettle things for their rivals in the party.
Dr Hasan and Nasharuddin are the two leaders who have come to haunt the party at a time when PAS has sacrificed so much to accommodate the liberals compared with the pre-1999 polls when it was breathing fire and brimstone, promoting and defending everything Islam.
By BARADAN KUPPUSAMY, The Star
YOU would think that a man like Datuk Dr Hasan Ali, who is a fiery articulator of all things Islamic, will be embraced by an Islamist party like PAS.
But it is strange that the Selangor exco member for Islam and Malay customs is shunned by the party and, according to state information head Shaari Sungib, has been dropped from the proposed list of PAS candidates for Selangor.
It is said that he did not receive enough nominations from the party branches to qualify to be re-nominated for the Gombak Setia state seat, which he won in 2008.
Various Islamic NGOs have gathered to champion Dr Hasan — a conservative Muslim who defends the banning of beer and other fundamentalist initiatives in Selangor.
They also questioned the party’s credentials as an Islamist party.
Dr Hasan also defends the institution of the Malay rulers much more overtly than the party which has a mixed record on that score.
Dr Hasan gave media interviews since Sunday, and in the interviews lashed out at his liberal critics in PAS and said he was not concerned about being dropped as a candidate.
“It is a small matter,” he said in an interview on TV3, adding “the larger issues are Islam and defending Islam.”
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was quick to deny that Dr Hasan has been dropped because such matters had not been decided by the party.
Another veteran PAS leader Nasharuddin Mat Isa is in the same boat as Dr Hasan, as the party’s central leadership is dominated by the so-called “Erdogans”.
In PAS, leaders deemed progressive and moderate are dubbed Erdogans, after the visionary and popular Turkish prime minister Racep Erdogan.
Three-term MP Nasharuddin, a technocrat and Muslim conservative, is not in the good books of the central leadership.
He was painted with the same brush as Dr Hasan after both were said to be in favour of Malay unity talks with Umno.
Nasharuddin also declared in a TV3 interview on Tuesday that he shares Dr Hasan’s sentiments on Islam and Malay rulers as the twin pillars of Malay society.
“I put Islam first. The royal institution is also to be defended,” said the Bachok MP, clearly drawing a line between them and the Erdogans, who take the cue from PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat.
The actions of the two leaders – Dr Hasan and Nasharuddin – are causing a headache to the Erdogans in PAS and restraining the push towards liberal policies and collaboration with DAP.
They feel that it is only through liberal policies that they can convince the majority of non-Muslim voters to support PAS in the forthcoming general election.
At the same time, the party has kept open its stand on the hudud issue, hoping to keep its traditional voter base.
This can easily backfire on PAS.
They can lose the hardliners who question the party’s liberal policies and “submission” to non-Muslims.
They can also lose the non-Muslim votes for taking on a radical hue.
Dr Hasan and Nasharuddin are the two leaders who have come to haunt the party at a time when PAS has sacrificed so much to accommodate the liberals compared with the pre-1999 polls when it was breathing fire and brimstone, promoting and defending everything Islam.
It is the same party which has decided to deliberately lower the heat of its rhetoric to win the non-Muslim voter support.
It is now the era of the Erdogans in PAS that is led by Nik Aziz and his group. They won most of the top posts in this year’s party election.
The Erdogans are trying to finish off the Malay nationalists and equally Islamic leaders like Dr Hasan and Nasharuddin and their supporters in the party.
The stage is set to get rid of them by not nominating them to contest in the general election.
The two, and their supporters in the Muslim NGOs, have challenged the PAS leadership with their “Islam comes first” statements and their readiness to defend the institution of the Malay rulers – all very nationalistic sentiments that come naturally to a Malay but are abhorred by leaders like deputy president Mohamed Sabu.
They are a thorn in the side of PAS, constantly reminding them that there are real issues to defend and politics is not just a process of winning elections and enjoying power.
