PAS, Opposition at the crossroads
Yang Razali Kassim, Today Online
Watching the tension-filled muktamar, or annual congress, of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) unfold recently in Batu Pahat was like following a burning fuse waiting to explode. One after another, the party leadership responded to delegates’ criticisms of their handling of the Selangor menteri besar (chief minister) or “MB” crisis. This was essentially an internal squabble around its opposition ally Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) attempt to replace its chief minister in Selangor state.
It is strange how what began as a PKR problem surprisingly spread to engulf PAS, partly because the spillover was not well handled by PAS’ chief, Mr Hadi Awang. For some inexplicable reason, he had refused to support PKR’s sole nominee — its president, Dr Wan Azizah — for the Selangor MB post.
This was even though the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, which includes PKR, PAS and Democratic Action Party (DAP), had agreed to the nomination of Dr Wan Azizah, the wife of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Mr Hadi’s resistance divided PAS internally and even threatened to bring down the entire opposition alliance. As the PAS leaders defended their positions during the annual congress, they only succeeded in resurrecting the deep division between the party’s two pillars — the ulama or religious scholars and the professionals, whose influence has grown over the years.
At the congress, PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali tried to cool temperatures. Paraphrasing Albert Einstein, who famously said science without religion is blind and religion without science is lame, Mr Mustafa reminded that PAS without the ulama is blind, and PAS without the professionals is lame.
Indeed, he added, PAS rested on a third pillar: The activists. All three — the ulama, professionals and activists — were critical to PAS’ survival, he underscored.
However, Mr Hadi, the final speaker, had other thoughts. Perplexingly, he argued that there was no written agreement by Pakatan Rakyat on the MB replacement and, in a convoluted way, ended up proposing names other than Dr Wan Azizah to the Selangor Sultan for royal assent.
In the process, he alienated many quarters within and outside PAS who were unhappy with his un-ulama-like way of handling the issue. Two PAS assemblymen broke ranks to give Dr Wan Azizah the majority in the opposition-dominated state assembly.
SPLIT IN PAS AND OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP?
The MB crisis has since been resolved but what it exposed — the re-emergence of the divide between the more conservative ulama and the professionals — will be a threat to PAS. At the core, the tussle was over the leadership of the ulama and the role of the professionals.
Both Mr Hadi and Mr Anwar came from the same Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement that Mr Anwar led before joining the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1982. But the Selangor MB crisis showed that, notwithstanding their common origins, both men had dormant differences that were waiting to boil over.
In recent years, the ulama have reasserted their leadership in PAS. Yet at the same time, PAS members have been supportive of the professionals and progressives, as seen in their success at the last party election.
