Defiant pressure group thumbs nose at PAS Syura Council, eyes more chapters

By admin-s On Oct 15, 2014

(MMO) – The budding pressure group that PAS’s Syura Council warned members against joining has insisted the party’s powerful decision-making body was impotent in making the call, setting itself for a further collision with the committee that increasingly views the movement as an incipient rival.

Instead of bowing to the Syura Council’s stricture, Persatuan Ummah Sejahtera Malaysia (PasMa) said it intends to further spread its movement to states where it has yet to gain a foothold.

When contacted by Malay Mail Online, PasMa president Datuk Phahrolrazi Mohd Zazawi maintained that the Ulama-dominated council’s warning was of no consequence unless it is upheld by the PAS leadership.

“Those are just guidelines in PAS. They (the Syura Council) can make such public statements, but the final decision still rests in the hands of the PAS Central Committee,” Pengkalan Kundor assemblyman said.

Phahrolrazi also insisted that the qualms about PasMa, which has been labelled a potential splinter from the party, was due to a misplaced belief that his group was harbouring intentions to rival to PAS.

Instead, he said that PasMa was registered as a non-governmental organisation to support the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition pact that includes PAS, PKR, and DAP.

“We’re an NGO … This means we’re not a new political party. Our aim is to strengthen ties between supporters and Pakatan members,” Phahrolrazi said.

He also said that the NGO will continue its activities by launching in states where chapters have not been established, namely Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, before going down to the district level.

But the defiance will not sit well with the Islamist party’s Syura Council, which, in addition to telling members to shun the movement, also directed them to relay any activities involving the group that was labelled “traitors” during the recent PAS assembly.

“Division and state liaison bodies are also advised to lodge written reports to the PAS central committee and Ulama Syura Council if such behaviours happen as well at their respective levels, so further action can be taken,” it said in a statement on Sunday.