KUALA LUMPUR – PAS is now fielding non-stereotypical, “non-ulama” leaders as election candidates to shift the perception that it is a party of religious scholars, political analyst Assoc Prof Azmil Mohd Tayeb said.
This, however, did not mean that their ideologies were any less conservative, he said in a forum titled “Green Wave? Fears, Challenges and Realities” yesterday.
Such faces include Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, who is PAS’ candidate in the Kemaman by-election.
Others are Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor and Bachok MP Mohd Syahir Che Sulaiman, all of whom Azmil said are now “rising stars” within the party.
“When (PAS) tries to push forward (these members) to become the face of the party, (it is) to soften its image that this is not simply a ‘backwater ulama-led party, we are a modern party, look at our leaders’.
“‘We have an aerospace engineer (Samsuri), who graduated from the University of Leeds, and an accountant working for Sime Darby (Syahir).’
“These are the people (PAS) is trying to push,” he said during the hybrid talk held online and in-person in Petaling Jaya organised by reform movement Aliran, of which Azmil is honorary secretary.
At the PAS muktamar last month, president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang said the Islamist party must work at winning over more non-Malays.
In the Kemaman by-election to be held on December 2, Samsuri will face Barisan Nasional candidate Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, a former army general.
Samsuri, who has led Terengganu since 2018, was a lecturer in aerospace engineering at Universiti Putra Malaysia from 2001 to 2006, before being an associate professor until 2008. He was also the head of the department throughout his time there.
He was also one of the aerospace engineering analysts for the tragedies involving doomed flights MH370 and MH17.
Modern face of PAS but no less conservative
Despite Samsuri being the first non-ulama to be appointed Terengganu’s menteri besar and graduating from Leeds, Azmil said that it did not necessarily mean that he would adopt a more inclusive or open approach to leading.
Azmil pointed out that Terengganu’s executive council still mainly consists of ulama, and that the state also enforces Islamic laws.
“You can be affluent, highly educated and study overseas at one of the top universities and still, it does not mean you internalise the progressive values,” said the senior lecturer at the School of Social Sciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia.
“Non-ulama leaders (in PAS) are no less conservative or ideologically rigid than the ulama leaders in the party.”
This is because leaders are “produced from the same party categorisation and indoctrination programmes,” said Azmil who spent several weeks in Kelantan and Kedah during last year’s general election researching PAS and its coalition, Perikatan Nasional.
These leaders would have experienced the same network of schools, study circles and student organisations on campus, thus internalising the same values.
“The only difference is that they did not go to the Middle East to study shariah law or have Islamic study backgrounds. They studied more secular subjects like law, accountancy and aerospace engineering.”
While these leaders are given “worldly” political positions, Azmil pointed out that the ulama are still leading the party spiritually and ideologically.
This is so that PAS ideology for an Islamic nation remains “pure and uncompromised”, he added. – November 19, 2023