As a friend of PAS and a former academic who has spent considerable time researching on the history of PAS, I hope to see a people’s party that is determined to defeat UMNO, together with other Pakatan partners.
However, I am deeply concerned about the recent developments in PAS.
The battle line seems to have been drawn along the line of whether PAS should work with UMNO ostensibly for the interests of Muslims (in the name of Unity Government or UG) or retain sincere cooperation with PKR and DAP to create a democratic and just Malaysia for all Malaysians (Pakatan Rakyat).
Therefore, the latest statement by the COO of PAS Research Centre Dr. Mohd Zuhdi Marsuki is shocking; that for the first time since the 1982 PAS crisis, a factional ideologue is effectively calling for the elimination of his rival faction.
Bernama reported that according to Dr. Zuhdi:
“The movement to topple PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang by certain groups in the party was detected from 1998.
PAS Research Centre Chief Operation Officer Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marsuki, who disclosed this, said PAS became so open in 1998, and this resulted in the entries of many groups who subsequently formed factions in PAS.
“There was no team culture in PAS prior to 1998 but it emerged after that and it is now becoming cancerous,” he told reporters after becoming a panellist on Academic Discourse: PAS: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow at Pengkalan Chepa here, last night.
Asked on PAS’ action to solve the issue, Mohd Zuhdi believed that the groups (not mentioning the names of the groups and those involved) would eventually leave PAS to form a new party.
“I am confident after the 2015 PAS General Assembly, two groups would emerge, whereby one would break away from PAS and form a new party, a solution which will bring back harmony in PAS,” he said.
Dr. Zuhdi is essentially calling for those who are being branded as against Tuan Guru Hadi Awang to be ejected from the party after the PAS general assembly.
It’s unprecedented and a cause of concern for who hope to see PAS emerging from the current ideological battle to unite and fight UMNO.