PAS veep contest is too hard to call
The candidates vying to fill the three vice-presidents’ posts in the PAS election comprise rising and fallen stars, and also a veteran making a comeback.
For instance, Abu Bakar, who is critical of PAS’ ties with DAP and PKR, had once lashed out at Nik Aziz at a gathering: “I don’t even want to look at your face. I didn’t want to come, but I came anyway. You should not impose your views of a two-party system on us.”
Joceline Tan, The Star
PAS politician Datuk Husam Musa has always been a bit of a mystery even to his closest friends.
His supporters in PAS had confidently told people that the incumbent PAS vice-president would be going for the deputy president’s post in the party election next week.
But shortly after returning from Kurdistan last Friday, the maverick politician announced via Twitter that he would defend his VP post.
Husam had downsized his ambitions to settle for something more realistic and within reach.
His political career is certainly far from over, but his superstar days are behind him. If this was grand slam tennis, Husam would be the Roger Federer of PAS – a big star whose lights are now dimming.
Once regarded as a potential mentri besar of Kelantan, he is now just a backbencher.
Although he is still the Salor assemblyman, he has been sidelined in the Kelantan Government because the palace has issues with him and Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat is no longer up there to defend him.
PAS members are still talking about his belligerent behaviour during the recent Budget session of the Kelantan Legislative Assembly.
Some of his PAS colleagues thought that he might as well have been speaking from the opposition bench. His confrontational style was made more dramatic by the little Hitler-style moustache that he has been sporting.
It was quite ironic because just a few years ago, Nik Aziz had handpicked him to table the state Budget. But, he is now criticising the Budget. Some thought it was a case of sour grapes, others said he is simply playing a meaningful backbencher role.
There is a lot at stake for this intellectual-minded politician in the party election.
A win will give him a much-needed boost, a loss will hasten the end. But he told a boyhood friend that he is leaving his fate in God’s hands and he was not going to fret over whether he will win or lose.
There are five candidates for the three VP posts. Apart from the incumbents Husam, Salahuddin Ayub and Datuk Mahfuz Omar, the other two are Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man from Pahang and Datuk Abu Bakar Chik from Terengganu.
It is a good thing Husam is so sanguine about the contest because the favourite to win this time is Tuan Ibrahim, the party’s publicity chief and a highly respected religious scholar from Pahang.
Tuan Ibrahim struck a chord among many in the party when he declined to contest for the deputy president’s post, saying that the post is too big for him.
That humble plea will probably catapult him to the top VP slot.
Of the remaining four candidates, the one most likely to lose is Datuk Abu Bakar Chik, an elderly and portly politician.
Abu Bakar is a peer of party president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang. He used to be a big name in Terengganu, but these are sunset days for him and no one in PAS can quite explain why he has decided to jump into the fray.
Moreover, he has a talent for being tactless and has accumulated more critics than friends over the years.
For instance, Abu Bakar, who is critical of PAS’ ties with DAP and PKR, had once lashed out at Nik Aziz at a gathering: “I don’t even want to look at your face. I didn’t want to come, but I came anyway. You should not impose your views of a two-party system on us.”
Abu Bakar said he wants to be in the forefront, so that he can help shape the party’s direction in the next general election.
Translated, it means that he thinks that PAS will lose more Malay support unless it stops compromising on its Islamic agenda and return to the original path.
It is hard to see PAS delegates giving him their precious votes and he may be riding into the sunset like his counterparts in Umno, Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad and Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam.
This would leave Salahuddin, Mahfuz and Husam fighting over the two remaining slots.
Salahuddin is very likeable and his diplomatic approach on issues had earned him the moniker, “Kofi Anan of PAS”.
He secured the highest number of nominations and if these translate into votes, he should be able to make it.
His problem is that, unlike Husam and Mahfuz, he is no longer a Yang Berhormat. Salahuddin took a huge risk in giving up a safe parliamentary seat in Kelantan to contest in Johor, where he lost.
Mahfuz, who is Pokok Sena MP, is not an exceptional politician, but mediocre people are often much more successful in politics because they do not pose a threat to others and, as a result, have few enemies.
He also has incredible luck or, as his friends put it, he has a guardian angel looking over his shoulder.
In 2011, a couple of hours before the delegates were due to vote, the president in his policy speech praised Mahfuz for his role in the anti-speed trap campaign and that helped Mahfuz speed across the finishing line in the polls.
Mahfuz may make it again thanks to the PAS win in the Sungai Limau by-election where he was the election director. PAS desperately needed this win and Mahfuz helped make it possible.
Husam’s supporters are pushing for him, saying that he helped PAS hold on to Kelantan when he opted to contest the Putrajaya parliamentary seat in the general election.
They claimed the Kelantanese working in the Klang Valley had flocked to his ceramah in Putrajaya and he helped shape their sentiment when they returned to vote in Kelantan.
The VP race will see a big winner and a big loser. Apart from that, it will be hard to call.
