TIME TO SAY GOODBYE: Pas and Pakatan at the crossroads

Watching the tension-filled muktamar, or annual congress, of PAS unfold recently in Batu Pahat was like following a burning fuse waiting to explode.

One after another, the party leadership responded to delegates’ criticism of their handling of the Selangor menteri besar (MB) crisis.

This was essentially an internal squabble around its opposition ally PKR’s attempt to replace its menteri besar in Selangor.

It is strange how what began as a PKR problem surprisingly spread to engulf PAS, partly because the spill over was not well handled by PAS’s chief, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

For some inexplicable reason, he had refused to support PKR’s sole nominee – its president, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail – for the Selangor MB post.

This was even though the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, which includes PKR, PAS and DAP, had agreed to the nomination of Dr Wan Azizah, the wife of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Hadi Awang

Hadi’s resistance divided PAS internally and even threatened to bring down the entire opposition alliance. As the PAS leaders defended their positions during the annual congress, they only succeeded in resurrecting the deep division between the party’s two pillars – the ulama or religious scholars and the professionals, whose influence has grown over the years.

At the congress, PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali tried to cool temperatures. Paraphrasing Albert Einstein, who famously said science without religion is blind and religion without science is lame, Mustafa reminded that PAS without the ulama is blind, and PAS without the professionals is lame.

Indeed, he added, PAS rested on a third pillar: The activists. All three – the ulama, professionals and activists – were critical to PAS’s survival, he underscored.

But, Hadi, the final speaker, had other thoughts.

Perplexingly, he argued that there was no written agreement by Pakatan Rakyat on the MB replacement and, in a convoluted way, ended up proposing names other than Dr Wan Azizah to the Selangor Sultan for royal assent.

In the process, he alienated many quarters within and outside PAS who were unhappy with his un-ulama-like way of handling the issue. Two PAS assemblymen broke ranks to give Dr Wan Azizah the majority in the opposition-dominated state assembly.

The MB crisis has since been resolved but what it exposed – the re-emergence of the divide between the more conservative ulama and the professionals – will be a threat to PAS. At the core, the tussle was over the leadership of the ulama and the role of the professionals.

Both Hadi and Anwar came from the same Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement that Anwar led before joining the ruling Umno in 1982. But the Selangor MB crisis showed that, notwithstanding their common origins, both men had dormant differences that were waiting to boil over.

In recent years, the ulama have reasserted their leadership in PAS. Yet at the same time, PAS members have been supportive of the professionals and progressives, as seen in their success at the last party election.

Against this backdrop, Hadi has been displaying a vague – even confusing – leadership posture, swaying between conservatism and progressiveness. The mixed signals he sent were seen as a weakness and there were unconfirmed reports that some would try to replace him.

His handling of the Selangor MB crisis was controversial and the fiery Hadi of the past resurfaced as he defended the ulama faction. It was nothing short of explosive.

Some of the words that he used were unprecedented by PAS standards. Declaring that he would not lead PAS to hell, he lashed out at “baruah” (stooges), “brokers” and “hypocrites”.

He also accused unspecified parties of stealing members of parliament and buying MPs. In the end, it was a speech of many don’ts: don’t form a group within a group; don’t treat PAS like a “hotel”; don’t leak party secrets; don’t direct your loyalty to others; and don’t help your enemies.

The Batu Pahat annual congress will go down in history as PAS’s most explosive and divisive. It pushed PAS, but also the Pakatan Rakyat alliance, to a new crossroads.

While the tension between the ulama and the progressives has been contained for now, it is likely to resurface nearer the party’s election in a year’s time. Expect a battle royale that could make or break PAS.

Unless both factions consciously decide to close ranks, the first possible trajectory is a split – either the professionals get booted out or they leave; or the ulama themselves part ways.

The recent move to form PasMa, a pressure group within PAS, is a sign of the progressives getting restless.

The second trajectory is the collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat alliance, following from a break-up of PAS. The formation of PasMa shows that PKR and DAP realise this distinct possibility but are making pre-emptive moves to save Pakatan.

The third trajectory, however, is a happier ending: All three parties – PAS, PKR and DAP – come to their senses and reconcile, driven by the thought of a possible victory at the 14th general election by 2018.

In the last one in 2013, Pakatan Rakyat won the popular vote even though they lost the parliamentary elections. They are just a hair’s breadth away from power.

They would realise soon enough that it would be foolish to throw everything out of the window. – Today Online