Who came out looking clean after ‘dedak cartel’ expose?

Zaharudin Muhammad and Hadi Awang.

It took the son-in-law of the PAS president to reveal the “ongoings” in PAS.

Zaharudin Muhammad must be either very brave or very powerful because the party president has revealed that he gave no “blessing” to the disclosure.

Is he trying to confine the “dedak” problem to certain individuals within the party, and to show that it was the delinquency of some individual members and not the party?

Zaharudin claimed he has the blessing from party president Abdul Hadi Awang but the latter has since denied giving one.

I think Hadi is trying to enjoy the best of both worlds – distancing himself and the party from the “dedak” accusation and at the same time trying to confine this problem to certain individuals within the party.

There is no better person than his son-in-law to disclose the “dedak cartel”. There is no better reason for Hadi to deny giving Zaharudin his blessing.

The whole episode made the party president very “detached” and very neutral. He is showing that he was not involved and at the same time he is not betraying those who did.

A gag order is now imposed on the party. No one could openly touch on this topic anymore.

Is this what the party wants the people to believe now – there was money changing hands, but it was not the party or the top echelon of the party that was involved.

It was certain individuals in the party, those in the cartel, who were involved.

I wish things could be resolved by simple manoeuvring.

Well, if the party is worth its salt, perhaps a more thorough investigation is now in order.

Who are those individuals in the cartel? What are their positions and relationship with the rest of the party’s top echelon? How was the purported money received used – was it for the benefit of individuals or the party?

We have not seen the end yet.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.