Testing time for the ulama

A lot is resting on the contest for the PAS deputy president post because the outcome will reflect whether the ulama class still have clout and influence in the party.

The ulama normally do not like to campaign but this time around, the young Turks among the ulama have launched a very aggressive campaign on behalf of the ulama candidates. They are not only campaigning for Nik Amar who is an ulama, but also for more religious scholars to be in the 18-member central working committee.

Joceline Tan, The Star

THERE is often an air of serenity around Datuk Seri Hadi Awang even when things around him are turning topsy-turvy. The PAS president tries not to let worldly affairs impinge too much on his sensibilities and it is often hard to read what is on his mind.

But earlier this week, the serene veil lifted when Hadi was caught in a weird situation linking him to the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood.

Hadi is quite a big name among international Muslim groups and is invited to their forums and gatherings. He is regarded as a learned Muslim scholar who walks the straight path.

That is largely what is keeping him up there as president of PAS because when it comes to politics, Hadi is the captain of a football team that he has little control over. His players are running rings around him and some of them are even said to control him.

But no one blames him because they know he is a reluctant politician. He had wanted to sit out the general election but his party would not allow it.

Hadi, 66, is not as robust as he used to be and party members say he has diabetes and high blood pressure. He watches his diet these days although his favourite food is still ikan terubok, the milky-taste fish that is fraught with tiny bones.

Hadi has also stayed above the fray in the party’s election campaign which has been the most intense ever. He has often said he can work with whoever is elected but the truth is that this intellectual-minded politician is not good at playing politics.

In 2011, it was said that he would have preferred Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man as his deputy but he accepted the eventual victor Mat Sabu, as Mohamad Sabu is known, with an open heart.

Hadi has also been hands-off about the ongoing contest for the No 2 post between Mat Sabu and Datuk Nik Amar Nik Abdullah.

But not so his fellow ulama who have made no secret about wanting Nik Amar over Mat Sabu who is associated with the Erdogan group, as the professionals and activists in the party are known.

The ulama normally do not like to campaign but this time around, the young Turks among the ulama have launched a very aggressive campaign on behalf of the ulama candidates. They are not only campaigning for Nik Amar who is an ulama, but also for more religious scholars to be in the 18-member central working committee.

They are not holding back, and a number of Facebook fan pages have popped up to promote the ulama candidates and also to criticise the “parasites,” their label for the Erdogans whom they accuse of feeding on the party to promote an agenda that may not benefit PAS.

However, Nik Amar, when contacted a few days ago, said he is not campaigning.

“I have been in Kelantan all this time. People in the party know us, they can evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. I leave it to their maturity and wisdom,” he said.

The recent announcement by the Kelantan Syariah chief judge Datuk Daud Muhammad that Kelantan is ready to implement hudud law should give a boost to Nik Amar.

Hudud law has always been an ultimate aim of PAS and if Kelantan is to be the first to go down the hudud road, it is only fitting that Nik Amar, who is from Kelantan, gets their endorsement.

One of the things said about Nik Amar is that he will be unable to bring something different from what Hadi already has.

Or as those who are pro-Mat Sabu put it: “If Hadi goes to the mosque, Nik Amar will also go to the mosque.”

The implication is that Nik Amar will merely duplicate the role of Hadi whereas Mat Sabu can push the boundaries and bring PAS to a larger audience.

Nik Amar has also been described as basically a regional leader who is not ready for the big post but the same could have been said about Mat Sabu two years ago. The thing is that there are no hard and fast rules about being ready in politics.

What is clear though is that Nik Amar does not have a big and interesting personality like Mat Sabu. He does not push himself forward in a crowd and he is not a crowd puller.

But he is a persuasive and intelligent speaker compared to the run-of-the-mill speakers that populate the PAS ceramah stage. Reporters like him because he gives logical comments unlike most ulama who often beat around the bush.

One advantage he holds over Mat Sabu is that he is not controversial. Mat Sabu is fighting a perception war about having Syiah links.

This issue is not new and has been hovering over him like a dark cloud for years. It is believed that this was a contributing factor to his defeat in Pendang during the general election.

“Such allegations can be a killer issue. If he loses, it will be because his enemies played up the Syiah issue,” said a close associate of his.

Events in recent months have not helped either. State governments all over the country are looking into enacting laws to enable the religious authorities to arrest and prosecute Syiah activities.

The shooting of the Pahang religious enforcement chief added to the situation because the deceased officer was actively going after the Tuhan Harun cult, Syiah groups and other vice activities in the state.

The Sunni Muslims in Malaysia are very conscious of preserving the purity of their beliefs and there is now a heightened sense that the Syiah practitioners have become a threat to the faith.

Some of Mat Sabu’s supporters also imagine that the ulama group is using the mosque against him. They claimed that “suddenly, there are sermons warning about the dangers of Syiah.”

Apparently, such sermons have taken place in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur and they think it is to undermine their man. But it could also be a case of mosque officials responding to the burning issue of the day.

“I have not detected anything in my dealings with him. What I know is that Mat has good friends in Iran. He likes the way Iran stands up against the west,” said Kedah deputy commissioner Datuk Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi.

Mat Sabu, said former Wangsa Maju chief Dr Rayney Ali, will have to fall back on his track record as a PAS veteran who has helped build up the party to defend his post.

The leading Malay newspaper Utusan Malaysia had tried to support the ulama cause shortly after the campaign started. But the paper could again end up doing the ulama group a disservice.

In the last party polls, several leading ulama used Utusan to air their views about the election and it backfired spectacularly. PAS members do not like Utusan because of its Umno links and they were angry that the ulama turned to Utusan for publicity.

A total of 1,300 delegates will decide the new leadership line-up this Friday.

Basically, members want to see a more balanced dynamic in the party. The last 10 years have seen the Erdogans, mainly professionals and activists who streamed into PAS during the Reformasi years, gaining in dominance over the party’s politics and direction.

This has made the ulama class very unhappy. They feel that their Islamic state goal has become unclear and the party is too subservient to DAP and PKR. They are worried about their standing among the Malays especially after Umno’s general election seat count went from 70 to 89 whereas PAS’ went down from 23 to 21.

In 2011, the delegates wanted to elect a deputy who could help them face the general election. This time, the feeling is that the deputy must be someone who can take over from Hadi in the event of an emergency.

Former Harakahdaily editor Zulkifli Sulong had written in a news portal that if Tuan Ibrahim and incumbent vice-president Datuk Husam Musa had agreed to contest the No 2 post, it would have been about choosing from the best. Instead, delegates now have to make do with second best.

But there are very few perfect people to be found in the imperfect world of politics and sometimes an election is not about choosing the best but a choice between the lesser of two evils.

This muktamar will test the clout and influence of the ulama. The election outcome will be a testimony of just how relevant the ulama still are in the party.

The alarm bells went off when Mat Sabu won in 2011. If he wins again, it is Code Blue for the religious scholars in PAS. The ulama prestige is at stake.