Husam: A moral challenge for PAS delegates
Hashim can be described as Husam’s trusted banker and runner to collect for Husam the “commissions” from projects or “donations” from businessman able to secure state projects with Husam’s help.
Another brick in the wall
Dato’ Husam Musa was a rising star in PAS when he won the vice President post in 2007 to come out with the highest vote. It was the party’s acknowledgement for the good work of this golden boy of Kelantan Menteri Besar and Spiritual Leader for PAS, Tuan Guru Dato Nik Aziz bin Nik Mat and leading personality of the pro-Anwar Erdogan faction.
That was until he got bolder and challenged incumbent Deputy President Nasharudin Md Isa in 2009 based on his opposition to the Unity Government (UG) issue.
Husam openly criticised certain party leaders and blamed them for the UG idea. This did not go well with delegates. All along, UG was subtly a subject of discussion at the 2008 Muktamar and within the party political committees.
Consequently, he was left idle in the political wilderness. That same year, Kelantan candidates were totally wiped out in the party polls.
Husam is back in the race this year but this time, vying for Vice Presidency. Candidate personality weigh heavily in this year’s election. Performance and credibility balanced by their popularity in the party will be some of the criteria delegates will look for.
Tainted with much controversies in the past two years, this time around choosing Husam will be a moral challenge for PAS.
Election
PAS Muktamar or the party’s Annual Convention begin on Friday, June 3rd, 2011 and will be on till Sunday June 5th.
Unique to the election this year, it is neither an intense and serious factional confrontation between the Ulamak against Erdogan, nor driven by issues such unity government as in the pasts.
That means the main determinant for this year’s election lies squarely on the candidate. Performance will be an important yardstick of delegates. There is also the dilemma between credibility and popularity.
Mat Sabu came in again as a serious contender against incumbent Nasharuddin. Despite his popularity, he may fail again due to the credibility factor.
However, this time around Nasharuddin may not be able to ward off attempts to unseat him. Another pro-Ulamak candidate, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man may come out as the new Deputy President.
This may weigh heavily in the Vice President’s race. Husam’s and former Perak Menteri Besar, Dato Seri Nizar Jamaluddin’s entry into the Vice President race has made life uneasy for incumbents Salahuddin Ayub and Datuk Mahfuz Omar.
There are also another Kelantan exco member, Datuk Nik Amar Nik Abdullah and PAS Information Chief, Idris Ahmad to content with.
Husam’s justification to contest was that Kelantan needs to be represented in the party hierarchy. Despite Nik Aziz’s campaign for Kelantan candidates, the choice will only mean it is either him or Nik Amar.
The bigger challenge for Husam is his image. During his time in the political wilderness, Husam’s image was splashed with the same red ink that hit on Ariffahmi. The expose of the various wrongdoings of Arifffahmi in Perbadanan Menteri Besar Kelantan Berhad (PMBK) and his questionable appointment leads back to Husam.
His role in PMBK is only as member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the plantation subsidiary, PMBK Sawit Sdn Bhd (PMBK Sawit) but his illegal and unethical workings and failings have began to surface.
Thus far, Husam has been able to cover and ward off his critics. Will he this time?
Lieutenants
This blogger obtained set of documents containing Husam’s network of cronies and lieutenant. This is only an opportunistic time to release this information.
All these while, pro-UMNO bloggers have mistakenly enlisted Husam’s lieutenants as cronies. The inner circle remains elusive to those outside the party.
Before the 12th General Election, Saifuddin Nasution, currently a key player in Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) was being touted as Husam’s crony and inner circle. However, he was still considered as an operational front man to run the Tok Kenali Trust Foundation.
If one remembers, his membership in PKR was being questioned when Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim took him into PKR to play the role of Director of Strategy. He was then still a PAS member.
There is former TV3, Abdul Razak Ghani (pix above) who is now the General Manager of PMBK Sawit Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of PMBK.
Husam is the Chairman of PMBK Sawit but Razak is still not considered within the inner circle.
Syed Azidi (pix below) or the popular blogger known as Kickdefella was doing Husam’s communication and propaganda worked but paid by PMBK. That was until he was sacked by Ariffahmi last year.
There were talks today that he is remains associated with Husam. Words believed to have emanated from a rival candidate camp claimed that Syed Azidi met Husam in China and was given RM300,000 to run Husam’s campaign.
Husam’s special officer,Kamalrulzaman Abdullah (pix above) denied the allegation and claimed such allegation was merely UMNO’s game.
Kamalrulzaman is another of Husam’s lieutenant. He was a former staff in the IT Division of Universiti Sains Malaysia and held a PAS Youth position in Penang. He left his job to join Husam.
Kamarulzaman handles Husam’s personal organic farming venture under a company called Sunnah Tani Sdn Bhd (Sunnah Tani). However, his monthly salary of RM5,000 is being paid by PMBK Sawit.
Kamalrulzaman and another Husam’s lieutenant,Mohd Nuri (pix above) represents Husam on the board of Directors of Sunnah Tani.
Nuri is an ex-teacher of PASTI and like Kamalrulzaman, earns salary from PMBK Sawit. In a common modus operandi with that of Kamarulzaman and Shieh Azidi, his job not related to PMBK Sawit but to take care of Husam’s Salor state constituency.
Mohd Khir Zahri Abdul Ghani is the current Director for Tok Kenali Trust Fund. He is lietenant handling Husam’s political affair including the welfare of his lieutenants.
Khir plays an important role in Husam’s current campaign for Vice President. Husam have been away in India and China throughout the campaign to avoid allegations of money politics and being seen as overzealous in his campaign.
Finally, there is Asmawi, who manages an event management company to handle Husam’s programs in Kuala Lumpur. Husam finances the company.
These lieutenants received money to run their assigned operation. However they are not involved directly in negotiation and obtaining money from third parties on behalf of Husam. That is left to the inner circle of cronies.
