Old guard fail in comeback bid

By JOCELINE TAN and IAN MCINTYRE

newsdesk@thestar.com.my

KOTA BARU: The comeback bid by the PAS old guard backfired when incumbent Nasruddin Mat Isa retained his post as deputy president against arch-conservative Datuk Harun Taib with an even stronger show of votes.

Nasruddin's victory, together with the new and younger faces in the party’s central committee (CC) signalled the party’s desire to continue the policy of change, engagement and openness of the last few years.

It also indicated the party grassroots’ confidence in the younger leadership who comprise technocrats, professionals and modern ulama to take the party into the next general election.

Nasruddin, who came in with the winds of change two years ago, secured his second term with a convincing 574 votes against Harun’s 367 votes.

The three vice-presidents (VPs) voted in by the 1,125 delegates at the three-day PAS Muktamar here also reflected the party’s wish for a more balanced team following the last polls when not a single ulama made it as VP.

Serious discussion: Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat talking to Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang at the PAS ceramah on Sunday.

The new VP line-up comprised technocrat Datuk Husam Musa (831 votes), grassroots activist Mohamed Sabu (666 votes) and ulama Ahmad Awang (427 votes).

Husam and Mohamed are incumbents while Ahmad, a new face in the line-up, is the Perak PAS chief.

Johor chief Dr Mahfodz Mohamed, who is aligned to Harun, and former Youth chief Mahfuz Omar failed in their bid to be VPs.

The new CC line-up comprised six new faces and 12 incumbents.

Delegates also sent 12 ulama figures into the CC over eight professionals and grassroots politicians.

The new faces included three Kelantan exco members: businessman Datuk Anuar Tan (543), ulama Nik Mohd Amar Abdullah (520) and lawyer Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (504) made it into the CC.

The others were PAS legal advisor Hanifa Maidin, party think-tank head Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad (541) and activist Mazlan Aliman (537).

Delegates stressed their support for the ulama leadership by giving the top four CC spots to ulama figures, namely Pahang chief Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (821), former Youth deputy chief Idris Ahmad (763), former Malaysian Ulama Association president Abdul Ghani Shamsudin (744) and Terengganu veteran Datuk Bakar Chik (681)