PAS’ young will go on a more aggressive campaign toturks reform the party with the second mandate given to them despite murmurs of discontent over such a move.
“Coming into the second term now, we will be more aggressive on that (the engagement and repackaging approaches) because there are a lot of sectors and segments that we have yet to breach,” PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa told malaysiakini in an interview.
This will include speeding up programmes to garner support from non-Muslims through initiative like PAS’ supporters club - an attempt by PAS to reach out to a larger group of supporters after its dismal showing in the last general election in 2004.
Seen as a symbol representing the young turks in PAS, 44-year-old Nasharudin together with several others in his group were re-elected to their key posts at the party’s election which concluded last Sunday in Kelantan.
The young turks’ victory came after they fended off a strong challenge from the conservative ulama (religious scholars) led by Nasharudin’s challenger, PAS’ second most senior ulama leader Harun Taib.
The challenge from the ulama in this party election came amidst voices of discontent among the conservatives over the pace and direction by the young turks who swept into power in the 2005 party election.
For instance, one of the criticisms was directed at where the malaysiakini’s 60-minute interview with Nasharudin was conducted on Wednesday - the party’s new headquarters located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur which reportedly cost RM8 million.
Conservatives opined the cost was too exorbitant but the young turks thought it was essential to “bring out” the party headquarters from the Malay-majority outskirt in Gombak closer to the masses.
Conceding he was “going too fast” in introducing changes when he first took over the post, Nasharudin however vowed there will be no let-up on such efforts despite the murmurs of discontent within the party.
“From the percentage of votes that I received which is almost 60 percent, it showed that people want changes. People want things to happen and move. We are going to make use of the second mandate given by party members to really move and get the ball rolling,” he said.
“I really want to speed up a little bit because everyone is saying that the general election is around the corner,” he explained, adding that he believed everyone in the party will close ranks to face the elections.
‘The market is big'
The PAS deputy president is also confident that the new approaches will not turn out to be futile but will instead translate into electoral gains for the Islamic party - which a lot of non-Muslim voters have shunned due to its intention to set up an Islamic state if it comes to power.
“The market is big, we just can’t concentrate on one portion of society,” the former law lecturer said in defending why the new approaches did not target its traditional strongholds in the rural Malay areas.
He noted that traditional methods like organising ceramah (political talk) in rural villages will continue while new methods - such as the setting up of the party’s own online video portal PAS TV - will also be carried out.
On analysts’ view that the victory of young turks in last week’s party election was due to the possibility of an early general election, Nasharudin disagreed.
“I came in (to the contest) with confidence because I was told the nominations received by Ustaz Harun was less than mine, that tells,” said the PAS politician, who was reluctant to comment on the closely-watched contest earlier due to the ‘no-campaigning’ culture in the party.
However, Nasharudin was tightlipped on his personal plan in the next general election.
“It’s not my personal plan, it’s the party’s decision,” he said.
But he conceded that he has been visiting his two previously contested parliamentary constituencies - Yan in Kedah and Besut in Terengganu. Nasharudin won in Yan in 1999 but lost in Besut in the last general election.
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