New faces but change is not imminent
Salbiah Ahmad
Most of us would like to believe the recent foreign press commentaries, that PAS has found its winning formula by the election of “reformist leaders to top posts, shunning hard-line clerics” in its 51st muktamar ( Washington Post, Jun 8 ). Or that the election of “Western-educated” Nasharuddin Mat Isa, as No 2 brings a promise of change.
As an aside, the foreign coverage is stereotypical. “Reformist” is equated with “Western”. “Hard-line clerics” are “fundamentalists”, as in not pro-reform or perhaps not pro-democracy.
But “hard-line cleric” Abdul Hadi Awang asserts that he is pro-democracy, “PAS akan memulihkan semula demokrasi di Negara ini yang semakin usang dan hampir lumpuh” (Harakahdaily.net, June 9).
The PAS president also reiterated that the party will not abandon among others, its Islamic state objective. He defended the leadership by ulama policy as the ulama are there “to criticize the party’s administration and to implement the party constitution which is based on the Quran and Hadith”. (malaysiakini, June 9) (more…)
