It's been a running joke among some journalists to give PAS Youth a call every Valentine Day eve or whenever big name metal bands and divas are announced to perform in Malaysia, more so during the reign of Nasrudin Hassan.
The result will almost always be a generic story on how such events will undo Malaysia's fragile social fabric, bring the country closer to the brink of moral collapse and more importantly, a series of commentaries deriding the movement led by the conservative Nasrudin.
There you have it. The tricks of the trade. But now that Suhaizan Kaiat (left) is running the show, with his track record of showing concern for more tangible matters than moral policing, perhaps PAS Youth will be less likely to be perennial victims of media baiting.
The 40-year-old former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) computer science lecturer has made three attempts at becoming a lawmaker in his home state of Johor. Although he failed thrice, he is gradually narrowing the gap.
He was Johor PAS Youth chief, but he made a name for himself by leading a group known as Gabungan Tanah Rakyat (Tanah) that campaigns on land issues in Johor.
His role in Tanah saw him playing a prominent role as PAS' spokesperson in the ongoing protest against the oil refinery project in Pengerang. The massive project will have severe impact on the livelihood of the villagers living in the area.
Taking on the EC
But Suhaizan is best known for his work on the integrity of the electoral roll, particularly in the weeks and months after the Bersih 2.0 rally held in July 2011.
As the Election Commission (EC) scrambled to deny the existence of "phantom voters" in the voters list after the mass rally that drew international attention, Suhaizan and his team unveiled, sometimes a few times a week, examples taken from the EC's database to prove the commission wrong.
Suhaizan's work had resulted in the coining of the term"cloned voters", where voters with the same name appear on the electoral roll with slightly different MyKad numbers.
Although Suhaizan was unable to achieve his team's objective of forcing Putrajaya to establish a royal commission of inquiry on electoral fraud, the federal government did succumb to public pressure and established a parliamentary select committee which made some recommendations on improving the electoral system.
With Suhaizan's track record and professional background, expect him to give his Umno counterpart Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar a run for his money.
Khairy, arguably one of the most articulate leaders in Umno, is not one to be drawn into religious debates with Nasrudin, a cleric who was the last PAS Youth chief and now aiming for a higher post in the party, but he would be hard pressed to avoid Suhaizan on more worldly matters.
But conservatives still a major force
That said, Suhaizan's wafer-thin victory over little known Federal Territories PAS Youth chief Kamaruzzaman Mohamad does expose some serious schisms in the movement.
Kamaruzzaman, who hails from Kelantan, is known among his peers for his conservative religious views that resonates with the party's ulama wing. He polled 307 votes, or 48.4 percent of the total (638) votes cast.
It is understood that only two of Suhaizan's unofficial running mates made the 12 PAS Youth committee election while the rest are believed to be aligned to the conservative faction led by Kamaruzzaman.
Suhaizan has already been the target of online smear campaigns which alleged that he is part of the so-called ‘Erdogan' faction and an Anwar Ibrahim proxy. It is not unreasonable to expect that he will wade through some resistance among Kamaruzzaman's allies in the wing.
One of these personalities is Zaharuddin Muhammad, the son-in-law of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang who was embroiled in the controversy over the fielding of a PAS candidate in Kota Damansara, which was supposed to be contested by PKR during the 13th general election. The split in votes led to a BN victory.
Another prominent name in the new PAS Youth committee is Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi, Abdul Hadi's son. He too is believed to be aligned to Zaharuddin, who is a member of PAS syura council.
What remains to be seen now is whether the PAS Youth polls would have any bearing on the party top leadership election today, in which the results will be announced on Saturday morning.
The party have always threaded very carefully in balancing its leadership with various talents.
Now that the scales have tipped to the "professionals" it the Youth wing, the obvious question is whether party delegates will try to compensate this by voting in candidates who are more inclined towards the ulama in the contests for key posts in the party leadership and the powerful central committee.
The result will almost always be a generic story on how such events will undo Malaysia's fragile social fabric, bring the country closer to the brink of moral collapse and more importantly, a series of commentaries deriding the movement led by the conservative Nasrudin.
There you have it. The tricks of the trade. But now that Suhaizan Kaiat (left) is running the show, with his track record of showing concern for more tangible matters than moral policing, perhaps PAS Youth will be less likely to be perennial victims of media baiting.The 40-year-old former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) computer science lecturer has made three attempts at becoming a lawmaker in his home state of Johor. Although he failed thrice, he is gradually narrowing the gap.
He was Johor PAS Youth chief, but he made a name for himself by leading a group known as Gabungan Tanah Rakyat (Tanah) that campaigns on land issues in Johor.
His role in Tanah saw him playing a prominent role as PAS' spokesperson in the ongoing protest against the oil refinery project in Pengerang. The massive project will have severe impact on the livelihood of the villagers living in the area.
Taking on the EC
But Suhaizan is best known for his work on the integrity of the electoral roll, particularly in the weeks and months after the Bersih 2.0 rally held in July 2011.
As the Election Commission (EC) scrambled to deny the existence of "phantom voters" in the voters list after the mass rally that drew international attention, Suhaizan and his team unveiled, sometimes a few times a week, examples taken from the EC's database to prove the commission wrong.
Suhaizan's work had resulted in the coining of the term"cloned voters", where voters with the same name appear on the electoral roll with slightly different MyKad numbers.Although Suhaizan was unable to achieve his team's objective of forcing Putrajaya to establish a royal commission of inquiry on electoral fraud, the federal government did succumb to public pressure and established a parliamentary select committee which made some recommendations on improving the electoral system.
With Suhaizan's track record and professional background, expect him to give his Umno counterpart Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar a run for his money.
Khairy, arguably one of the most articulate leaders in Umno, is not one to be drawn into religious debates with Nasrudin, a cleric who was the last PAS Youth chief and now aiming for a higher post in the party, but he would be hard pressed to avoid Suhaizan on more worldly matters.
But conservatives still a major force
That said, Suhaizan's wafer-thin victory over little known Federal Territories PAS Youth chief Kamaruzzaman Mohamad does expose some serious schisms in the movement.
Kamaruzzaman, who hails from Kelantan, is known among his peers for his conservative religious views that resonates with the party's ulama wing. He polled 307 votes, or 48.4 percent of the total (638) votes cast.
It is understood that only two of Suhaizan's unofficial running mates made the 12 PAS Youth committee election while the rest are believed to be aligned to the conservative faction led by Kamaruzzaman.Suhaizan has already been the target of online smear campaigns which alleged that he is part of the so-called ‘Erdogan' faction and an Anwar Ibrahim proxy. It is not unreasonable to expect that he will wade through some resistance among Kamaruzzaman's allies in the wing.
One of these personalities is Zaharuddin Muhammad, the son-in-law of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang who was embroiled in the controversy over the fielding of a PAS candidate in Kota Damansara, which was supposed to be contested by PKR during the 13th general election. The split in votes led to a BN victory.
Another prominent name in the new PAS Youth committee is Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi, Abdul Hadi's son. He too is believed to be aligned to Zaharuddin, who is a member of PAS syura council.
What remains to be seen now is whether the PAS Youth polls would have any bearing on the party top leadership election today, in which the results will be announced on Saturday morning.
The party have always threaded very carefully in balancing its leadership with various talents.
Now that the scales have tipped to the "professionals" it the Youth wing, the obvious question is whether party delegates will try to compensate this by voting in candidates who are more inclined towards the ulama in the contests for key posts in the party leadership and the powerful central committee.
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