Epic fight in the making

If the political chatter in PAS is to be believed, the popular PAS No. 2 Mohamad Sabu is gearing up to contest the party presidency next year.

Joceline Tan. The Star

THE 63rd anniversary celebration of PAS was supposed to be about party unity. The Islamist party has had a rocky year and the gathering held in Kuala Kangsar was to remind the party faithful of how it had held together through good times and rough times.

But there was one little problem, though. PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and his deputy Mohamad Sabu seemed quite distant, if their body language was anything to go by.

“They hardly spoke to each other, the rapport was not there,” said professional photographer Minaq Jinggo who was in Kuala Kangsar.

And who can blame Hadi? He is probably aware by now of a plot brewing against him.

The PAS election is still about a year away but things have started to move on the PAS ground because the division meetings will begin in a few months’ time.

It is no secret by now that Mat Sabu, as the PAS deputy president is known, is eyeing the top post.

He has told close friends that, “I want to be PAS president even for a few days.”

Roslan: Slammed those plotting against his ex-boss.

Some claimed that Mat Sabu was speaking in jest. He is, after all, known as the Raja Lawak of PAS because of his talent for entertaining his audience and cracking jokes.

But those close to him said he is quite serious. That part about “for at least a few days” was just a typically Malay way of softening the ambitious tone, to inject some humour so as not to come across as overly power-hungry.

Mat Sabu is preparing to shatter yet another glass ceiling in PAS.

He had defeated two ulama leaders to win the deputy president post back in 2011, making him the first non-ulama to hold the No. 2 post ever since the party’s “leadership by the ulama” policy came about 25 years ago. It was a huge blow to the ulama oligarchy and they have never quite forgiven him.

Hadi’s former press aide Roslan Shahir recently wrote in his blog that there are attempts to mengguling or topple his former boss. Roslan said this was evident from the actions of certain leaders whom he slammed as kuda tunggangan or lackeys who are being used by elements outside of PAS.

“They find Hadi too uncompromising, they want a president who can dance to their tune,” Roslan had written.

There is no more denying the split between the pro-ulama group and the Erdogan group in PAS.

The pro-ulama group is adamant about defending the party policy of “leadership by the ulama”, hence the way their wagons have circled around Hadi to defend him against attacks and criticism.

This group is of the opinion that if they have to decide between remaining in Pakatan and pursuing their goal of an Islamic state, they will choose the latter.

The priority of the Erdogans is largely about political survival. They are ambitious and pragmatic politicians for whom the religion is the means to an end. The outlook of this group has grown closer to DAP and PKR than to the ulama leadership in their own party.

Zaharuddin: Powerful son-in-law of party president.

According to a party insider, the Erdogan camp feels that Hadi is no longer suitable to lead PAS. They think that Hadi has to make way if PAS wants to survive in Pakatan politics. It is political expediency over religious ideology for them.

This group still wants an ulama as the president as long as it is not Hadi and is looking to vice-president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man as a possible replacement.

“Tuan Ibrahim is accepted by both sides. He can bind PAS together,” said former Kelantan assembly speaker Datuk Wan Rahim Wan Abdullah.

But it is just talk at this point in time. Tuan Ibrahim is 100% with Hadi and there is no way he will be involved in any scheme to undermine Hadi. Moreover, he is nokuda tunggangan.

Even if he agrees to take over, he will not be dancing to the Pakatan tune. Tuan Ibrahim has a mind of his own and could turn out to be even more uncompromising than Hadi.

The Pahang-based Tuan Ibrahim also has one little problem – he has this ulama thinking that contesting a post is equivalent to being greedy, which is a no-no for truly religious people, and he often has to be pushed and dragged to contest a post.

The Erdogan group has also been making a song and dance about Hadi’s health. The 67-year-old leader has slowed down after suffering a major heart attack when he was in Istanbul several months ago.

They claimed that Hadi’s health scare has affected him psychologically and that Hadi had grown erratic and less rational. They point to his emotionally-charged speech at the party muktamar in Batu Pahat.

Most of all, they are upset at the way he failed to respect the Pakatan decision on the Selangor mentri besar issue. He had unilaterally submitted three PAS names to the Selangor Palace after the Pakatan leadership council had decided on Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the post.

However, a long-time Hadi associate said that the near-death experience in Istanbul may have awakened something in him, a realisation that he must take PAS back to the right path. He is now like the old Hadi of the 1980s and 1990s who was very clear-minded about the party’s Islamic direction.

Like his compatriot Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Hadi has realised that the party has made too many compromises in the name of coalition politics. They feel that their party has compromised its dream of an Islamic state and the big winner has been DAP rather than Islam.

They were shocked to see some leaders in their own party openly defending the Sisters in Islam (SIS) whom PAS regards as a Western feminist group with liberalist thinking.

PAS supporters were also furious at how DAP leaders had criticised Hadi for being absent from the Pakatan presidential council meetings. They thought that DAP leader Lim Guan Eng was disrespectful and petty for his continuous attacks on Hadi.

They pointed out that Lim himself rarely attended these meetings and instead sent his father who is only a central committee member.

Nik Aziz was more direct when asked about the DAP attacks: “This is the action of stupid people. Let me ask, he (Hadi) did not attend because he was lazy or unwell? Why force someone who is not well to attend meetings?”

But are all that valid reasons to topple Hadi?

If Hadi is guilty of not going along with Pakatan on the Selangor mentri besar issue, then Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is equally guilty of unilaterally forcing a by-election in Kajang without consulting any of the Pakatan party leaders. They said that not attending meetings is nothing compared to what these PKR leaders did in the Kajang Move.

Hardcore Hadi supporters said that the insinuations about his mental state of mind are part of the psy-war tactics of his enemies. Physically, Hadi is not the robust man he used to be but there is nothing wrong with his thinking process. He has not lost his marbles.

Another accusation against Hadi involves his son-in-law Zaharuddin Muhammad, a religious scholar educated in the Middle East. The story is that Zaharuddin has considerable influence on Hadi.

Zaharuddin is known for his intellect and his peers had acknowledged him as “Ustaz Din Tok Guru”. Despite being a relative newcomer in PAS politics, he was appointed to the powerful Syura Council which has the final say over decisions governing the party and which is headed by Nik Aziz.

Zaharuddin moves in a circle comprising young, radical ulama who have been similarly fired up by their education in the Middle East. This group is turned off by the politics of the DAP which they say has “no moral soul”. They said that in DAP, it is all about political power. They can relate better with PKR but not Anwar whom they think is a chameleon who is carrying too much baggage.

They have labelled Pasma, the NGO set up with a view to replacing PAS in Pakatan, as geng Jebon (gang of demons).

These young ulama are probably not as influential on Hadi as some have imagined. Hadi may sometimes seem clueless and naive but he is intellectually in a class of his own. He is extremely well read and does not blindly follow what these young chikus say.

His main problem is that thinkers and intellectuals rarely make good politicians. It is the loudmouths and the street fighters who usually do well in politics.

But make no mistake, these young Turks in the ulama groups are emerging as a new and credible voice in the party. They are now in their 30s and 40s and soon they will be the ones running the party.

They are not a big group but their idealistic voice carries a certain weight because what they say is reminiscent of the time when PAS was given a new lease of life in 1982, after the ulama seized control of the party.

Old-timers in PAS are fond of saying that those were the years when it felt like God was really with them and they were sitting on the shoulders of the angels.

So much has happened in PAS this year – all that clash of personalities, opinions and even ideology.

The party is hanging onto Pakatan by a thread that will snap the day the Kelantan government proceeds with hudud law.

But next year could be even more unsettling if Mat Sabu decides to make the big move. The last party election was about the deputy president post, the next one will be about the fight for the presidency.

Mat Sabu is the man to watch. But he will also have to watch out for the young ulama group. They will do what it takes to stop him and to prevent the final glass ceiling from shattering.