PAS taking a more moderate line
The changing face of PAS is attracting today’s ‘modern’ Muslims as well as non-Muslims. While the party remains consistent in its commitment to Islam, its younger leaders have shed their physical and psychological robes and turbans.
Two decades after shouts of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) rang out in the still night air in the PAS stronghold of Marang, Terengganu, frightening “infidels” after a packed ceramah, the nation has seen the birth of a PAS supporters club – comprising non-Muslims.
This is the target group PAS’ younger generation of leaders are wooing, for, in a decade, it is they who will inherit the party.
The jostling has already begun. The lines being drawn between the conservative ulama and the younger moderates are geared to the party election anticipated in mid-2009.
Ironically, Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, despite his stature as PAS Mursyid’ul Am (spiritual leader), is the iconic figurehead for the moderates.
His protege, PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa, is expected to take on incumbent Nasharuddin Mat Isa for the deputy president’s post.
The latter, meanwhile, is seen as the favoured successor of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, an ulama of the old school, although he, too, in the early 1980s, was considered a “young Turk”.
If Kelantan is solidly behind their Tok Guru Nik Aziz, Terengganu is similarly 100% behind Haji Hadi and his band of al-Azhar University graduates. It is in the racially mixed west coast, erupting most recently in Selangor, that both streams of opinion play a tug of war.
Late last month, Selangor PAS Commissioner Datuk Dr Hassan Mohd Ali removed Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad as deputy commissioner II and Hulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungip from the state’s 11-man Dewan Harian (PAS management committee), following a series of “differences in opinion,” as Khalid put it.
At 51, Khalid and Saari are considered PAS’ new wave of Muslim intellectuals. Both were labelled as being of the Erdogan group – after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan – for their liberal stance on a clutch of issues.
The perjorative term painted them as supporters of PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, but their removal had less to do with their Anwar links than with differences in state level party policy.
“Khalid was a good sport about it,” said a PAS leader, requesting anonymity.
“He admitted that he and Dr Hassan had not been seeing eye to eye on several issues, from as early as former mentri besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo’s invitation to talk about forming a joint state government soon after March 8.”
At that time, there were even rumours of Hassan being offered the MB’s post in such a scenario. The talks fizzled out and PAS remained with the PKR to eventually form the Pakatan Rakyat, together with the DAP.
Sensitive issues
Nevertheless, thorny issues remained. One was a highly publicised integrated pig farm in Ladang Tumbuk, Selangor, which Khalid feels could be “run professionally and if possible cleanly”. It did not make sense to him for those of other races to import all their foods. There would be a “ruckus among non-Muslims” since their food import bill would be too high.
More recently, Dr Hassan submitted an alternative list of names to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, of the PKR, after the latter appointed the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) deputy general manager, a Chinese woman, to serve as acting head of the state corporation. Dr Hassan’s list comprised entirely of Malays.
In late November, when Selangor PAS tried to ban the sale of alcohol in sundry shops and 7-eleven outlets in the state, Khalid disagreed. He felt that “banning alcohol is not practical when Muslims comprise only 51% of Selangor’s population.”
Khalid does not want the press to “fan the flames” between Dr Hassan and himself. He does not want to hear their differences formalised into talk of factions. As one of the more open PAS MPs, he had scored points among non-Muslims when he attended a church service in Shah Alam, saying: “I am the MP of all my constituents, including Umno members if they would have me,” adding with a laugh “many of them had in fact voted for me.”
Being accommodative Muslim professionals “who can absorb differences”, Khalid, Saari and like-minded colleagues see themselves as the “big fishes in a small pond”.
“If 90% of PKR are graduates, PAS is more diverse,” said Saari.
Saari officially joined PAS in 2004 after two decades of participation with Muslim movements, initially as a student leader in the United Kingdom and later as the first president of the Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 1990. He has written some 40 books on various aspects of Islam.
To top off his credentials, Saari had twice been detained under the ISA, first for “a tough 16 days” for his involvement in the nascent Reformasi movement in 1998 and subsequently in Kamunting from 2001-03. Today he is a much sought-after speaker nationwide.
He had twice stood on the Keadilan ticket, in a Kuala Langat by-election in 1999 and Paya Besar, Pahang in 2004.
“When Anwar was released, I told him I wanted to be active in PAS, without any ill feeling with Keadilan. I just wanted to give the best that I have to PAS,” said Saari of his return to more familiar ground.
Now Saari wants decision-making to be more open and regulated.
“There should be no pre-council meeting when the Dewan Harian already comprises only 11 members.
“The merits of our arguments should be based on the quality of our debate, rather than emotion.”
For PAS to grow stronger, its leaders should “not bulldoze (ideas) through, or sweep them under the carpet,” said the professional. He believes that in negotiating, one should either “agree, or agree to disagree” on issues.
“Before the election, we kept saying that we are for all. Now is the time for us to prove it. Suddenly PAS seems to be placing more importance on Melayu. We are over-sensitive. We should be talking more with the DAP.
“Since we are in Pakatan, the leadership must show that we are together. Our main opponent is Umno,” said Saari.
“In a coalition, getting from here to there is not as easy as when we are on our own,” Khalid conceded.
However, having known Anwar since his Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia days has made them more receptive to the PKR way of thinking. Certainly, neither has second thoughts in endorsing Anwar as the next prime minister. “He is the person who can get the allegiance of the different groups,” said Khalid pragmatically.
He echoes a stand made even before the 1999 general election among Keadilan, DAP and the late PAS president Datuk Fadzil Noor, who agreed that if the Barisan Alternatif won, Anwar would be the prime minister even though he was then under detention and did not stand, recounted Kota Baru MP Datuk Wan Abd Rahim Wan Abdullah.
“That agreement stands to today and need not be replaced with another.”
Reasonable expectations
Since Anwar’s self-imposed Sept 16 deadline to take over the federal government failed to materialise, his fan club has diminished. Anwar addressed their disillusionment at last weekend’s PKR convention.
But among his PAS allies, the criticisms were almost non-existent.
“PAS does not have high expectations,” explained Wan Rahim.
“To be able to get five states between us was already a big surprise.”
Still, it is not inconceivable that PAS and Umno might yet work together again.
Already Umno and PAS have held three rounds of Malay unity talks at the highest level, between no less than the party presidents of each. These talks ceased after PAS leaders at its party assembly last August drew fire from the rank and file.
Leading the charge was Nik Aziz himself. Today, he and Terengganu PAS Commissioner Datuk Mustapha Ali are the only two from PAS’ top hierarchy who were party to the 1970s cooperation between PAS and Umno. PAS became a founder member of the Barisan Nasional in 1974. In 1978, PAS was evicted after it opposed the Barisan’s attempt to pass the Emergency Ordinance through Parliament.
This was followed by 18 years of bad blood during which PAS worked with a clutch of tiny parties like Nasma, while Umno backed Berjasa and Hamim to try to topple PAS in Kelantan.
“Today, 10 of PAS’ top 12 leaders have no experience of working with Umno and being played out,” said Wan Rahim.
It was those memories that had led Nik Aziz to famously say “one should never be bitten twice by the same snake coming out of the same snake hole.”
Both Malay-based parties have since evolved. The question before PAS now is whether it is to be more Malay or Muslim in its direction.
“It’s the same thing,” said Wan Rahim simply.
“Malay equals Muslim and vice-versa.
“We are practical. We acknowledge our limitations in a multi-racial society. And we have been consistent since 1951 in championing Islam.”
This consistency has won it respect and friends, even among urban Malays who are not its natural constituents. A few confessed that if PAS were to contest in Kuala Lumpur, they would vote for it.
But they are not PAS’ targets.
“PAS has to focus more on the rural areas, including Felda schemes, where people are less educated and have less exposure to information apart from the Government media and Malay national dailies,” said Wan Rahim. “This is where Umno has long held sway.”
“PAS will have to deliver these rural constituencies. DAP cannot and PKR does not have the grassroots.”
“It is up to PAS,” he added.
Two decades after shouts of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) rang out in the still night air in the PAS stronghold of Marang, Terengganu, frightening “infidels” after a packed ceramah, the nation has seen the birth of a PAS supporters club – comprising non-Muslims.
This is the target group PAS’ younger generation of leaders are wooing, for, in a decade, it is they who will inherit the party.
The jostling has already begun. The lines being drawn between the conservative ulama and the younger moderates are geared to the party election anticipated in mid-2009.
Ironically, Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, despite his stature as PAS Mursyid’ul Am (spiritual leader), is the iconic figurehead for the moderates.
His protege, PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa, is expected to take on incumbent Nasharuddin Mat Isa for the deputy president’s post.
The latter, meanwhile, is seen as the favoured successor of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, an ulama of the old school, although he, too, in the early 1980s, was considered a “young Turk”.
If Kelantan is solidly behind their Tok Guru Nik Aziz, Terengganu is similarly 100% behind Haji Hadi and his band of al-Azhar University graduates. It is in the racially mixed west coast, erupting most recently in Selangor, that both streams of opinion play a tug of war.
Late last month, Selangor PAS Commissioner Datuk Dr Hassan Mohd Ali removed Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad as deputy commissioner II and Hulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungip from the state’s 11-man Dewan Harian (PAS management committee), following a series of “differences in opinion,” as Khalid put it.
At 51, Khalid and Saari are considered PAS’ new wave of Muslim intellectuals. Both were labelled as being of the Erdogan group – after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan – for their liberal stance on a clutch of issues.
The perjorative term painted them as supporters of PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, but their removal had less to do with their Anwar links than with differences in state level party policy.
“Khalid was a good sport about it,” said a PAS leader, requesting anonymity.
“He admitted that he and Dr Hassan had not been seeing eye to eye on several issues, from as early as former mentri besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo’s invitation to talk about forming a joint state government soon after March 8.”
At that time, there were even rumours of Hassan being offered the MB’s post in such a scenario. The talks fizzled out and PAS remained with the PKR to eventually form the Pakatan Rakyat, together with the DAP.
Sensitive issues
Nevertheless, thorny issues remained. One was a highly publicised integrated pig farm in Ladang Tumbuk, Selangor, which Khalid feels could be “run professionally and if possible cleanly”. It did not make sense to him for those of other races to import all their foods. There would be a “ruckus among non-Muslims” since their food import bill would be too high.
More recently, Dr Hassan submitted an alternative list of names to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, of the PKR, after the latter appointed the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) deputy general manager, a Chinese woman, to serve as acting head of the state corporation. Dr Hassan’s list comprised entirely of Malays.
In late November, when Selangor PAS tried to ban the sale of alcohol in sundry shops and 7-eleven outlets in the state, Khalid disagreed. He felt that “banning alcohol is not practical when Muslims comprise only 51% of Selangor’s population.”
Khalid does not want the press to “fan the flames” between Dr Hassan and himself. He does not want to hear their differences formalised into talk of factions. As one of the more open PAS MPs, he had scored points among non-Muslims when he attended a church service in Shah Alam, saying: “I am the MP of all my constituents, including Umno members if they would have me,” adding with a laugh “many of them had in fact voted for me.”
Being accommodative Muslim professionals “who can absorb differences”, Khalid, Saari and like-minded colleagues see themselves as the “big fishes in a small pond”.
“If 90% of PKR are graduates, PAS is more diverse,” said Saari.
Saari officially joined PAS in 2004 after two decades of participation with Muslim movements, initially as a student leader in the United Kingdom and later as the first president of the Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 1990. He has written some 40 books on various aspects of Islam.
To top off his credentials, Saari had twice been detained under the ISA, first for “a tough 16 days” for his involvement in the nascent Reformasi movement in 1998 and subsequently in Kamunting from 2001-03. Today he is a much sought-after speaker nationwide.
He had twice stood on the Keadilan ticket, in a Kuala Langat by-election in 1999 and Paya Besar, Pahang in 2004.
“When Anwar was released, I told him I wanted to be active in PAS, without any ill feeling with Keadilan. I just wanted to give the best that I have to PAS,” said Saari of his return to more familiar ground.
Now Saari wants decision-making to be more open and regulated.
“There should be no pre-council meeting when the Dewan Harian already comprises only 11 members.
“The merits of our arguments should be based on the quality of our debate, rather than emotion.”
For PAS to grow stronger, its leaders should “not bulldoze (ideas) through, or sweep them under the carpet,” said the professional. He believes that in negotiating, one should either “agree, or agree to disagree” on issues.
“Before the election, we kept saying that we are for all. Now is the time for us to prove it. Suddenly PAS seems to be placing more importance on Melayu. We are over-sensitive. We should be talking more with the DAP.
“Since we are in Pakatan, the leadership must show that we are together. Our main opponent is Umno,” said Saari.
“In a coalition, getting from here to there is not as easy as when we are on our own,” Khalid conceded.
However, having known Anwar since his Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia days has made them more receptive to the PKR way of thinking. Certainly, neither has second thoughts in endorsing Anwar as the next prime minister. “He is the person who can get the allegiance of the different groups,” said Khalid pragmatically.
He echoes a stand made even before the 1999 general election among Keadilan, DAP and the late PAS president Datuk Fadzil Noor, who agreed that if the Barisan Alternatif won, Anwar would be the prime minister even though he was then under detention and did not stand, recounted Kota Baru MP Datuk Wan Abd Rahim Wan Abdullah.
“That agreement stands to today and need not be replaced with another.”
Reasonable expectations
Since Anwar’s self-imposed Sept 16 deadline to take over the federal government failed to materialise, his fan club has diminished. Anwar addressed their disillusionment at last weekend’s PKR convention.
But among his PAS allies, the criticisms were almost non-existent.
“PAS does not have high expectations,” explained Wan Rahim.
“To be able to get five states between us was already a big surprise.”
Still, it is not inconceivable that PAS and Umno might yet work together again.
Already Umno and PAS have held three rounds of Malay unity talks at the highest level, between no less than the party presidents of each. These talks ceased after PAS leaders at its party assembly last August drew fire from the rank and file.
Leading the charge was Nik Aziz himself. Today, he and Terengganu PAS Commissioner Datuk Mustapha Ali are the only two from PAS’ top hierarchy who were party to the 1970s cooperation between PAS and Umno. PAS became a founder member of the Barisan Nasional in 1974. In 1978, PAS was evicted after it opposed the Barisan’s attempt to pass the Emergency Ordinance through Parliament.
This was followed by 18 years of bad blood during which PAS worked with a clutch of tiny parties like Nasma, while Umno backed Berjasa and Hamim to try to topple PAS in Kelantan.
“Today, 10 of PAS’ top 12 leaders have no experience of working with Umno and being played out,” said Wan Rahim.
It was those memories that had led Nik Aziz to famously say “one should never be bitten twice by the same snake coming out of the same snake hole.”
Both Malay-based parties have since evolved. The question before PAS now is whether it is to be more Malay or Muslim in its direction.
“It’s the same thing,” said Wan Rahim simply.
“Malay equals Muslim and vice-versa.
“We are practical. We acknowledge our limitations in a multi-racial society. And we have been consistent since 1951 in championing Islam.”
This consistency has won it respect and friends, even among urban Malays who are not its natural constituents. A few confessed that if PAS were to contest in Kuala Lumpur, they would vote for it.
But they are not PAS’ targets.
“PAS has to focus more on the rural areas, including Felda schemes, where people are less educated and have less exposure to information apart from the Government media and Malay national dailies,” said Wan Rahim. “This is where Umno has long held sway.”
“PAS will have to deliver these rural constituencies. DAP cannot and PKR does not have the grassroots.”
“It is up to PAS,” he added.
MOHD ADHA MOHD ZAIN (ADHA ZAIN)
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