THE HADI TIME BOMB: Temperamental Pas chief may break up both his own party and Pakatan Rakyat

The biggest opponent to the Pakatan Rakyat coalition's crucial plan in Selangor is Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang – a fiery Islamic ulama with little appeal nationally, The Edge Review reported today.

On top of that, there are now growing fears that Hadi's position as an "unconstructive partner" in the coalition could prompt a split within his own party PAS, the report said.

It said that PAS, of which Hadi is president, is solely responsible for thwarting a plan by opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to replace the embattled menteri besar of Selangor.

Selangor MB Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was sacked from PKR last Saturday for defying party orders to make way for Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to take over the post.

Despite this, the embattled Khalid has managed to hold on to his job, The Edge Review said, because of Hadi's support, which caused friction in the coalition, threatening to break up the six-year alliance, which also includes DAP.

“The coalition has worked well together because the respective partners have kept to a moderate position in line with the aspirations of Malaysians. However, with the increasing re-assertiveness of the conservatives in PAS, the coalition becomes more and more untenable,” DAP MP Tony Pua was quoted as saying.

“The PAS rank-and-file won’t accept leaving the opposition coalition,” a senior PAS leader from Selangor, who declined to be named, was reported as saying. “Our real fear is what the Selangor problem will do to PAS.”

The report said PAS is now caught in a power struggle between its conservative ulama faction and a group comprising young and progressive leaders.

"These simmering tensions are set to break out into the open this weekend, when the party’s 35-member policy-making body meets to discuss whether to back Anwar’s bid to remove Khalid," The Edge Review said.

The progressive group outnumber the conservative ulama in the party's central working committee and several PAS leaders have said that the decision to remove Khalid could very well be carried out.

But that, the report said, would be contrary to an earlier announcement by PAS's Shura Council that it would support Khalid.

Leaders in the Islamist party have admitted that the crisis over Selangor was really a "symptom" of a deeper problem in the party.

“Sooner or later, the party will need to deal with this issue, on the compromises it needs to make to stay in an opposition coalition,” said a Selangor PAS senior leader who supports Khalid's removal as MB.

The report said that most PAS leaders say that a compromise will not come easy with Hadi at the helm of the party while some note that the Selangor crisis could pave the way to a break up of PAS.

PAS, the weekly said, had long been a rural-based party with most of its support from Malay-Muslims in the rural states, such as Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah.

PAS only gained its political numbers in Parliament after the Islamist party joined forces with PKR and DAP in 2008 to form Pakatan Rakyat, led by Anwar.

It helped the party win votes from non-Muslim voters aligned to the opposition. They have, however, remained uncomfortable with the ultra-conservatives in PAS, the report said.

Hadi, on the other hand, has always been cautious of the alliance, the weekly said.

“Hadi’s view is that the non-Muslims don’t recognise Islam as a solution, so he is uneasy about working with groups outside the faith,” a PAS leader from Kelantan was quoted as saying.

After he led PAS to capture Terengganu and assumed power as the Terengganu MB in 1999, he introduced Islamic laws, which included flogging for Muslim convicts, the report said.

"The party’s action also caused unease among Muslims, particularly women who were encouraged to cover their heads with scarves while outside their homes and discouraged from working at night," the weekly reported.

"The push for an uncompromising social Islamic order and the party’s failure to mesh religious principles with economic development quickly turned popular support into anger. Hadi and PAS were booted out of power in Terengganu in 2004."

Following that, a younger, more progressive group of PAS leaders have risen up the ranks of the Islamist party which has caused some unease among the Hadi-led ulama, who feared they were losing influence in the party, it said.

“Islamic parties and (their) leaders like the Brotherhood in Egypt have failed when given power. We need to find a formula of working together that is compatible with our Islamic beliefs,” a senior PAS leader aligned to Anwar, was quoted as saying.

High on the list of priorities for these young, progressive leaders was strengthening its cooperation with DAP and PKR in the opposition coalition as they believed that their role in the alliance has boosted its national acceptance.

In the 13th general election last year, PAS won 21 parliamentary seats and 85 state seats, many of which were situated outside the party's comfort zones in rural Malaysia.

But that has not stopped the conservative faction of the party, led by Hadi to raise sensitive issues, such as the introduction of hudud, which had also threatened to split the coalition.

Senior leaders from PKR and DAP are sure of removing Khalid in the upcoming weeks, The Edge Review said, through a vote of no-confidence in the state assembly.

But, it added, how Hadi will deal with this setback to his authority within the Islamist party would show if the growing rift in PAS would turn into a public power struggle. –TMI