What next for PAS progressives?

The smiles do not mask the animosity between the PAS conservatives, represented by its president, Hadi Awang (left), and the progressives, represented by its deputy president, Mohamad Sabu. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Nazir Sufari, September 21, 2014.The real question after PAS's fiery annual assembly is not where the party is going, but what those who are considered progressives and liberal will do next.

The party's conservative president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, has clearly shown that anyone who doesn't agree with him is welcome to leave.

Hadi remains firmly in control of his party and has the support of the ulama through the Shura Council.

And as the party's 60th muktamar, which ended yesterday has shown, a good number of delegates are behind him, too, over the Selangor menteri besar impasse and political cooperation with DAP and PKR in Pakatan Rakyat.

"In the party, there is only one imam. If anyone else wants to be an imam as well, find another plot of land and build your own mosque," Hadi had said in his winding-up speech at the party's annual assembly in Batu Pahat, Johor, yesterday.

In saying this, Hadi took a different approach from past presidents. The president's winding-up speech at the end of the muktamar is normally used to close ranks and bridge differences in the party.

But Hadi came out with guns blazing, delivering in no uncertain terms that those who differed with him should get out.

There were earlier hints of this, in fact, at a dialogue with supporters in his home base at Rusila, Marang, his parliamentary constituency.

Hadi mocked the new non-governmental organisation Persatuan Ummah Sejahtera Malaysia (PasMa) which was formed by PAS members with the agenda of ensuring that PAS remained in Pakatan Rakyat.

"In a country that practises parliamentary democracy, anyone who wants to start a new party can go ahead.

"So, too, those who have a different view in PAS. If they want to start a new party, it is better for them to leave and do so than to stay behind," Hadi had said at the dialogue session in early September.

The Selangor menteri besar impasse has brought these differences to a boil.

Hadi is at odds with the party's central committee, which decided that political cooperation with allies PKR and DAP was more important to the Islamist party's future than the menteri besar's seat.

While the central committee decided to stick to PKR and DAP's decision to back PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the state's top post, Hadi threw his support behind incumbent Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Later, while PKR and DAP nominated only Dr Wan Azizah to the Selangor palace, Hadi sidelined the central committee when he decided, on his own, to submit the names of three assemblymen to the palace.

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, better known as Mat Sabu, and party information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar were forced to describe Hadi's support for Khalid as his "personal stand".

As these "progressive" leaders spoke up about the importance of sticking with their Pakatan partners, Hadi's supporters openly attacked them, calling those who disagreed with the president "disloyal".

At least three incidents in the recent muktamar showcased this deep rift:

One was the walkout by 50 PAS Youth delegates at the start of Mat Sabu's speech. The delegates were wearing jackets with the words "We support the president and Shura council".

Another was when Federal Territory delegate Dr Azhar Yaakub launched into a prayer during the debates in which he condemned those who were disloyal to Hadi.

The third were the boos for Mohamed Hanipa Maidin when he said PAS should reject the menteri besar’s post if one of their assemblyman was appointed, as the post belonged to PKR. 

It did not seem to matter to those who jeered him that Hanipa, who chairs the party's legal and human rights bureau, was speaking out of principle. It also did not seem to matter that what he said was the same as the central committee's position.

Some observers felt that with Hadi's closing speech, PAS might be headed for a move that would severely impact on its ties with Pakatan.

Whatever that move is was not debated at the muktamar. Even resolutions related to PAS's position in Pakatan and the Selangor menteri besar issue were not discussed.

A hint was offered though when influential ulama and deputy spiritual adviser Datuk Dr Haron Din said political cooperation with DAP and PKR could be reviewed if certain conditions were broken.

At the same time, the Facebook page of El-Haraki, run by conservatives in the party, was filled with vitriolic attacks against the progressives.

Taken together, the warnings, cyber trolling, jeering against the progressives and Hadi's acerbic final speech in which he called the two PAS assemblymen who supported Dr Wan Azizah "lackeys" are signs that PAS under Hadi will remain conservative and unbending.

The question is: what will those who don't agree with Hadi do next? Will they sit quietly and wait until the muktamar next year, when PAS is expected to elect new office-bearers?

Or will they stick to principle and continue speaking up, with consequences no one can quite imagine yet.

What this group, labelled as Erdogans, progressives or professionals, does will then answer the other question about where PAS is going.

- TMI