Pro-ulama tsunami in PAS Youth
Big wins come with big expectations and the new PAS Youth chief Nik Abduh Nik Aziz not only has to live up to his famous father’s name, he will also have a lot on his shoulders.
Joceline Tan, The Star
IT was about 3.30pm, the sleepy time in the afternoon. Some of the delegates at themuktamar for the PAS Youth wing were still feeling the effects of their lunch when cries of “Takbir! Allahuakbar!” erupted from the back of the auditorium.
It went on for several minutes and the proceedings had to stop for a while as the permanent chairman Kamal Ashaari called for calm.
The excitement was sparked off by the arrival of Nik Abduh Nik Aziz, the middle son of the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. It was an amazing introduction to the charismatic appeal of Nik Abduh among the younger set in PAS.
The Unit Amal or the PAS vanguard unit was so flustered to see him that they ushered him into the hall that was reserved for delegates.
When he got up to leave, there were more shouts of support as photographers trailed him to an adjacent hall to join the observers following the debates from two big screens.
Nik Abduh, 45, wearing his trademark shy smile and looking somewhat apologetic about the stir he had caused, sat in the third row of seats as photographers clicked away for a good three or four minutes.
It was as if a superstar had come.
But the earlier excitement was nothing compared to the instant when he was named the new Dewan Pemuda chief.
It was an electrifying moment for his supporters. There is clearly something special about Nik Abduh that outsiders will never quite understand, but he carried himself with great composure and he is surely the one to watch in PAS.
It was like some sort of homecoming because he used to be the deputy Youth chief before he moved on to the party’s central committee in the 2013 party polls.
Nik Abduh won with 429 votes against the 263 votes by incumbent Suhaizan Kaiat. The result was all over social media hours before it was announced at about 6pm.
In fact, a crest-fallen Suhaizan acknowledged it as he was about to finish his winding-up speech and congratulated Nik Abduh.
It was gentlemanly of him and it led the permanent chairman to quip: “I will be announcing the results afterwards.”
Nik Abduh’s victory was not a landslide, but it was a convincing win. The landslide effect lay in the clean sweep of all committee posts.
It was “menu voting” all the way. The Youth wing was split 60:40 between those who are pro-ulama and the professionals.
The other unique part of the result is that the wing is now being led by two “anak Tok Guru”.
Muhammad Khalil Hadi, the eldest son of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, retained his deputy chief post with more than 60% of the votes against Perak Youth leader Dr Raja Iskandar Al-Hiss.
Engineer Kairil Nizam Khirudin, who is also in the pro-ulama group, retained his vice-chief post.
Nik Abduh’s return to the pinnacle of the Dewan Pemuda was a clear-cut signal of the pro-ulama wind blowing through PAS after more than a decade of flirting with moderation and the short-lived slogan of “PAS for all”.
The pro-ulama sweep will probably come as a surprise to those outside the party. But within the party, it is something that had been expected for some time.
The young men in the Youth wing belong to that generation of Malays whose parents take their religion seriously and who send their children to religious classes.
Their parents are definitely not the sort who would join the pet-a-dog campaign, support the LGBT movement or defend Christians over their insistence on using the Allah term in church.
They are not a small group and they are growing in number. Their background explains why they are more drawn to the pro-ulama group than the professionals group.
One speaker after another stressed that their party’s struggle is not solely about Putrajaya.
They stressed that their aim is to achieve the goal where religion governs politics and economy.
A Perak delegate put it well: “If our aim is just about getting to Putrajaya, no problem. Putrajaya is just a short distance from here. But if getting to Putrajaya means putting aside our Islamic struggle, that we cannot accept.”
His remarks were greeted with shouts of support from the audience. However, not a single speaker called for PAS to severe ties with Pakatan Rakyat. Their problem is not with Pakatan, their problem is DAP whom they find to be insensitive to Islam and the PAS agenda.
The attacks by the DAP father-and-son seem to have worked against the professionals.
The two Lims, Kit Siang and Guan Eng, thought they could frighten the Youth delegates with their scare tactics of Pakatan breaking up after the muktamar.
Instead, their tactics backfired and angered the delegates who found the pair disrespectful and rude. The Lims clearly do not understand how the Malays and Muslims feel about their leaders and beliefs.
The Youth wing, under the new leadership line-up, is headed for a spell of conservative politics where religion takes precedence above all else.
The ulama dominance is regarded by many as a step back to the dark ages. The ulama class is respected as religious scholars, but are not exactly known for skills necessary to run a state or country.
However, the new generation ulama now controlling the Youth wing are not like the generation of Nik Aziz or Hadi.
This was evident in the way they planned and strategised their campaign. They started moving not long after the 2013 party election.
That is how determined and organised this group is.
These ulama young Turks mark the start of a new phenomenon in PAS. It is unclear how they will use their newfound power in the party and whether they will be a match for Umno Youth.
But they do have one stand-out advantage in that they hold the moral high ground. They are seen as clean and decent leaders.
Big wins come with big expectations and Nik Abduh and his team will have to deliver.
>The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.
