Online campaign against Erdogans
A defined lobby of young, educated and ambitious ulama in PAS are using the Internet in an unprecedented way to undermine the Erdogan camp ahead of the party election in November.
The PAS election has not received the kind of publicity that the Umno election is getting but it is no less intense or critical for the future of the party. Almost all the top posts are likely to be contested and only Hadi is assured of winning uncontested at this point in time.
Joceline Tan, The Star
ZAHARUDIN Muhammad of PAS is apparently quite amused at being compared to Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin. He has been labelled as “the son-in-law” by some PAS members and it is not exactly a compliment.
Zaharudin’s father-in-law is none other than PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and the young ustaz has been accused of using his family ties to influence decisions in the party. Zaharudin has brushed off the allegations but “the son-in-law” of PAS has been the subject of much debate in the Internet among the PAS crowd.
His detractors call him “Din Ayam” but it is easy to see why his father-in-law takes him seriously. Zaharudin was educated in Egypt and Syria; he speaks well and relies on facts rather than rhetoric to get his point across. He is a fierce defender of Hadi and has accused certain quarters in the party of trying to topple the president.
He is also an ally of PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan and deputy Youth chief Nik Abduh Nik Mat, whose father is Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. They form the young and ultra-conservative cohort of PAS.
Zaharudin is not a rising star in his party as some have imagined but he is definitely part of the group which wants to see the ulama reassert their dominance at the party election and muktamar in November.
Intense challenge
The PAS election has not received the kind of publicity that the Umno election is getting but it is no less intense or critical for the future of the party. Almost all the top posts are likely to be contested and only Hadi is assured of winning uncontested at this point in time.
And like Umno, PAS is also going through a tug-of-war between those who want PAS to return to the good, old conservative ways and those who want the party to move on with the times.
But the most intriguing part of what is happening in the run-up to the polls is the way the pro-ulama group are using the Internet to campaign and, quite shockingly, to accuse and malign the other side, namely the professionals or the Erdogans as they are known.
PAS leaders have often denied that there is such a thing as “ulama versus Erdogans” in the party. They claim it was created by an imaginative media. But the rivalry between the ulama camp and the Erdogan gang is being played out in full view in Facebook and blogs. Some of the stuff posted will make you go OMG!
The pro-ulama camp, normally restrained and publicity shy, is now the aggressor, doing the attacks, making accusations against the Erdogans and even promoting certain ulama personalities.
And the warfare is most intense in El-Haraki, a fan page on Facebook. People in PAS pretend they do not read it, some even claim they have never heard of it, but all of them have been avidly following it because the kind of things posted on El-Haraki is something which has never happened before in PAS. The ulama are finally putting on their gameface for the big fight.
El-Haraki is Arabic for “social movement” and the people behind it are believed to be the young Turks among the ulama who have been unhappy with the way the Erdogans have dominated PAS politics over the last decade.
The Erdogan dominance was best epitomised by Mohamed Sabu winning the deputy president post in the last party polls while the three vice-president posts were won by non-ulama.
The chief targets of the pro-ulama group are those they call the “kepala-kepala Erdogan” (Erdogan chieftains), namely vice-president (VP) Datuk Husam Musa, treasurer Dr Hatta Ramli, central committee member Khalid Samad and strategic director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
The pro-ulama group claim that the quartet are more concerned about Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s agenda than their own party’s cause. They call the Erdogans “parasites,” “Anwarinas” and “ular daun” (grass snakes), meaning they are the enemy within. But the most hurtful label of all has got to be “Umno agents”.
Their attacks are being carried out in the name of saving PAS and the president. They also imagine that Husam is about to make a bid for the presidency even though he has said he is defending his post.
They have depicted Husam as a failed politician who has fallen out with the Kelantan palace and who is more interested in looking after his goats. There are lots of pictures of him cuddling and playing with goats.
This group of people are evidently well connected. They posted a letter showing how Husam’s name was crossed out in the proposed list of exco members for the new Kelantan government. The rejection came from the palace and the letter has been verified by Kelantan sources as authentic.
It looks like the group is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the quartet. Even a Hari Raya banner put up by the party’s Batu division has come under attack because it did not include Hadi’s picture.
A recent posting blamed Husam and Dr Hatta for Pakatan Rakyat’s failure to capture Putrajaya and various states.
Smear campaign
Everything the quartet said and did in the last few years has been dredged out to be scrutinised and presented as proof of their “betrayal”.
For instance, Instagrams of Dr Hatta flying to Kota Kinabalu in a private jet with Anwar and other Pakatan leaders are being used as proof of how close Dr Hatta is to the PKR leader, and he has been accused of preferring Anwar over Hadi as Prime Minister. Dr Hatta should have opted for an Air Asia flight – it would have been cheaper and less problematic.
Excerpts of an interview that Khalid, who is also Shah Alam MP, gave to a business weekly have been interpreted as his alleged pluralistic tendencies. That is a big no-no for PAS, which regards pluralism as a branch of liberal Islam that could destroy the religion.
They even claimed he had threatened to quit PAS if PKR’s Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was not reappointed Selangor Mentri Besar, which he has denied.
There were also posters of PAS’ Khalid in a church. The stunt won him praise from non-Muslims but has returned to haunt him ahead of the party polls.
A previous remark by Dr Dzulkefly that PAS was ready for a non-Muslim as their deputy president is also being dragged out for airing.
Khalid has defended himself in a three-part article in his blog but the rest have chosen not to respond.
Those in the pro-ulama group are very protective of the top two – Hadi and Mursyidul Am Nik Aziz.
Their motto is: “To be with the ulama in PAS is akin to being with the Holy Prophet. Whoever goes against the ulama, they are on the way to hell.”
Ulama figures like Kelantan deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Amar Nik Abdullah, Youth chief and Temerloh MP Nasrudin Hassan, and a host of other hardline ulama get favourable coverage in El-Haraki.
A top PAS official, anxious to absolve the top ulama leaders from all this, stressed that the Internet campaign is the work of “young and over-zealous” second echelon ulama and that the top ulama leaders are not involved.
Even the party newsletter Harakah and the online Harakahdaily have not been spared. The two party organs have often come under pressure from the conservatives who claim that the ulama view is not well represented.
The editorial team, in wanting to make the publications more interesting, tries to include news about other Pakatan parties but the conservatives think the party organs should be strictly about PAS and its ideology.
Two of its editors, Rashidi Hassan and Zukifli Sulung, resigned after the general election and the latter is now working for an online news portal as its features editor.
But Zulkifli was mistaken if he thought he would be able to report as he pleased. An article he wrote on the ailing Nik Aziz titled “Berehatlah Tok Guru” (Time to rest Tok Guru) has come under attack.
It was a touching piece about how Nik Aziz had woken up in his hospital suite and asked to see Husam. But poor Zulkifli was accused of trying to promote Husam for the presidency and even of being his campaign manager.
“The campaign is very hot this time,” said Zulkifli.
It is quite evident that the pro-ulama groups see Husam, Khalid, Dr Dzulkefly and Dr Hatta as the brains behind the success of the Erdogans. To defeat the group, they need to discredit the gang of four and that is what those behind El-Haraki are out to do.
The old generation ulama of PAS do not believe in campaigning or promoting themselves. They prefer to pray and leave everything else in the hands of God.
But the younger and Internet savvy generation who want the ulama to be in control are stepping up the game.
However, PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali has a word of caution: “Everybody should adhere to the campaign ethics. Please don’t go overboard because in the past, people lost when they campaigned too much.”
