Ahmad Awang vows to reunite PAS

PAS presidential candidate Ahmad Awang says he has known Umno for a long time and will not work with them again. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, June 1, 2015.

PAS presidential candidate Ahmad Awang’s main focus if he wrests control of the party at this week’s elections will be to reunite the Islamist party, which is fraught with infighting between rival factions.

He is of the opinion that the friction and feuding, especially between the conservative and professional factions, has been poorly managed by its president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

"This is something that should not happen in a group of Muslims and I will work on repairing the damage," he told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview.

Ahmad will go up against Hadi in the party’s 61st assembly and elections to be held from June 4 to June 6 in Kuala Selangor.

The following are excerpts from the interview.

Why did you accept the nomination for presidency?

I thought it was the wish of the grassroots, expressed through the nominations for the post which qualified me to contest. No matter where I went, they asked me not to reject the nominations.

Out of 179 PAS divisions, only 115 nominated the incumbent while 82 others did not nominate him. I had seven nominations while Datuk Husam Musa had eight. I saw an opportunity there.

Is there still hope of PAS remaining with Pakatan Rakyat after what happened within PAS and also after the muktamar? Or is it better for PAS to team up with Umno?

The leaders speak as though they are still with Pakatan but their actions do not reflect that. The Ulama Multaqa in Kedah several years ago asked that this relationship with Pakatan be relooked at. We can see it through the language of the debates. They might not attack Pakatan but they were attacking PAS leaders who want to remain with Pakatan.

The presence of PasMa had been used as an excuse to accuse some leaders of not being loyal to the party leaders but to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim instead.

So, PAS and Pakatan's future depends on who leads PAS after next month’s elections.

What about the relationship with Umno?

PAS and I personally have previously been with Umno. Umno had agreed on missionary work when we were with them. So the Religious Department in the Prime Minister's Department was set up, the Islamic Centre was created, and I was made its director.

But after that PAS was kicked out of Umno. I was kicked out of the Islamic Centre and transferred to the Education Ministry under the orders of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

All this happened when I agreed with PAS leaders then that those who died in the Memali incident were martyrs.

I've known Umno for a long time and I will not work with them again.

What is your opinion regarding DAP's opposition to hudud?

We knew from the start DAP never supported hudud. The late Karpal Singh once said establishing an Islamic state would only be possible "over my dead body". (Datuk) Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat met Karpal before even though he knew about the latter's stand.

We can still talk and discuss about it. Pakatan won't be affected as long as we talk about it.

But it has affected Pakatan after Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom (Minister in the Prime Minister's Department) told the Dewan Rakyat that the federal government will help Kelantan to implement hudud, thus the technical committee on hudud was formed.

PAS had agreed to discuss this matter before bringing it to Dewan Rakyat. But it appears that not only DAP, but the PAS central committee was also not referred to or invited for discussions when the private member's bill was about to be tabled.

For me, DAP is opposing because they were not given the space to hear what PAS wants to introduce. If it was explained earlier that the implementation will only be under Act 355 which is already under the Federal Constitution, it would not have become this bad. When there is no discussion, this is what happens.

If BN supports the move, they should have brought this matter to Parliament themselves so that they can tell their supporters that the move was from Umno and not PAS.

But PAS is too trusting of Umno. DAP sees Umno’s support as a political ploy. DAP too learnt about these issues by reading books by Islamic scholars such as Yusof Qardhawi.

Certain PAS leaders might not like it but for me, DAP beginning to study more about Islam is a good thing.

What is your opinion on 1MDB, the economy and the progressive movement of Islam?

What happened to 1MDB add to the wastage under Umno, especially under its current president (Datuk Seri Najib Razak).

I was personally involved in the construction of Putrajaya because I was on the panel of RHB Bank's Shariah advisers. RHB was given the task to manage the issuance of government bonds to build Putrajaya and we were tasked with studying it.

The issue of wastage has gone from bad to worse. Najib's administration is at the peak of wastage.

Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, who once led MAS, was sad about what was happening in MAS, as he had left the airline with plenty of assets.

To me, Najib's biggest failure is his inability to separate himself from those who execute the law. The concept of separation of powers in the administration was broken. That was what happened in 1MDB. He is the PM, he is the finance minister and he is also 1MDB advisory board chairman.

What is the main role of the ulamas in a modern society and in political parties?

My view is that ulamas must become the reference point for the people. One way is by doing research so that Muslims and PAS members practise politics the right way and understand the Islamic concept of politics.

- TMI