KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Supporters of Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat are moving to ensure that a special muktamar be convened to oust “problematic” leaders hampering closer ties with allies in the Pakatan Rakyat.
In Selangor at least one division will hold a full divisional meeting to pass a resolution to support party’s spiritual leader’s call.
Central committee members aligned to the Kelantan mentri besar too are expected to back the proposal.
Under the PAS constitution, a special muktamar can only be convened by the president or with the request of one-third of the central committee members. The party’s 176 divisions too can make similar requests and a special muktamar has to be convened if it is supported by at least one-third of the divisions.“We have agreed to support Tok Guru’s view, for the sake of the survival of the ‘jemaah’,” said Kelana Jaya PAS chief Izham Hashim.
The division’s committee held an emergency meeting last night where it decided to call for a special divisional muktamar soon.
“We believe he only has the party’s interest at heart, and we took into consideration, the respect Nik Aziz commands, from within and outside the party,” Izham told The Malaysian Insider.
He also dismissed the report that the Selangor PAS had rejected the call for a special muktamar, saying that the matter has never been discussed by the state committee.
“It was Roslan’s personal opinion so we decided not to adopt the view,” said Izham referring to a statement by the Selangor PAS information chief Roslan Shahir. The statement reportedly representing the PAS Selangor’s stand was published in the Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia yesterday.
Meanwhile PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub who met with Nik Aziz yesterday said he will convey the spiritual leader’s message to the party central committee.
“He has given me the task of passing the message to the leadership, so the central committee will meet soon,” said Salahuddin who is also the Kubang Kerian MP.
He refused to say whether he will back the proposal for a special muktamar when the central committee meets.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the Salahuddin’s meeting with Nik Aziz yesterday was meant to dispel rumour within the party that the controversial statement was not made by him.
“There is already talk among some party leaders that Nik Aziz was instigated by his advisers and the statement was not from him,” said a Kelantan PAS insider.
“So Salahuddin’s declaration that it was indeed Nik Aziz’s stand and he will bring it to the central committee is a big move,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
He added that Nik Aziz has enough supporters in the 36-member central committee to demand for a special muktamar.
“There is no problem about convening a special muktamar, the problem is deciding on the agenda, whether it is possible to vote out the president at the meeting,” he said.
Nik Aziz in a rare blog posting on Thursday night urged the party to hold a special muktamar to weed out leaders seen to be in favour of working with Umno whom he said have made the party look inconsistent.
The call for a special muktamar is seen as a last ditch all-out attempt to bring PAS closer to the pact rather than a more detached relationship with its allies PKR and DAP.
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Some PAS members want to promote Haji Hadi as the future PM of Malaysia but sometimes the statements from Haji Hadi did not go down well with the non Muslims. Since the news of the unity government broke out many non Muslims supporters had drifted away. If PAS is serious on winning more seats in the West Peninsular then it is high time they listen to Nik Aziz and convene the muktamar and make bold decisions. If the decision is to uphold Islam through Malay supremacy concept of UMNO then so be it. They can continue Kelantan and perhaps Terengganu but they can forget about other states because there is no winning formula without the participation of the non Muslims.