Mat Sabu: Ulamas in politics must stop rhetoric of theology

(fz.com) – PAS deputy president Mohamed Sabu has lashed out at those who have labelled him as a Syiah, saying that only those who do not know the history of the party will make that accusation.

With PAS party elections looming, accusations of being a Syiah, not being PAS-enough and many other labels are being bandied about among the many factions in the party. 

Mohamed, better known as Mat Sabu, who is the first non-ulama to hold the post of deputy president, has been the target of some people in PAS who claim he is a Syiah because he had openly supported Hezbollah and the Iranian revolution. 

Mat Sabu has countered the accusation by pointing out that Unit Amal (PAS’ popular crowd control unit) is actually modelled after the Iranian Revolution Guards – even its anthem is actually based on an Iranian song – but that has not earned it the Syiah label. 

Unit Amal is a pride of PAS. Set up in 1991, it now has more than 3,000 PAS youth as members.  

Despite it being part of an opposition party, Unit Amal has been hailed by the authorities as one of the most disciplined and successful forces in dealing with demonstrations and crowd control involving thousands. 

In fact, the police always worked hand in hand with Unit Amal when handling opposition rallies. 

“I am not a Syiah. But I admired the way the ulamas (clerics) took part in politics during the Iranian Revolution and Iran happened to be Syiah. I also think Hezbollah is the most successful NGO in the world. I admire their traits and commitment to the cause of the people,” Mat Sabu told fz.com recently. 

(Hezbollah is a Syiah Islamic militant group and Lebanese political party founded by clerics, and played a major role in resisting the Israeli invasion into Lebanon in 2006.)

“PAS is the only other Islamic party in the world that has ulamas as its top leaders – not even the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt or the Islamic Party of Turkey,” said Mat Sabu.