PAS must learn decentralisation if it is to regain control of any state government let alone Putrajaya, a delegate suggested today at the Islamist party’s annual conference, reminding the central leadership of its fall from in Kedah recently and Terengganu previously.
Johor delegate Firdaus Masood believes Terengganu and Kedah — which was for a time under PAS rule — fell to Barisan Nasional (BN) because its two respective leaders, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and the late Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak, had their hands full with trying to run the states while managing the party at the state level.
Hadi, who is PAS president, was also Terengganu mentri besar before the east coast state returned to the BN in the 12th general election while Azizan was Kedah mentri besar for one term when PAS won the north, rice farming state in Election 2008, only to see it slip back to BN rule earlier this year.
“We want to have the doctrine of separation of powers. We want the federal leaders to focus on federal affairs, and for state PAS to focus on state affairs,” Firdaus told the 1,200-strong crowd.
[Picture – PAS members line-up to cast their votes during the party’s annual muktamar at Shah Alam]
“We want a type of focus so the state PAS can concentrate on doing their job in each state.”
PAS also saw its democratic credentials questioned today after party election committee led by Asmuni Awi was rapped for the mishap yesterday which saw the central working committee polls postponed to this morning.
“This kind of mistakes, should not have happened… The public saw and would ask, how could PAS rule Malaysia if they could not even do the same in its own party?” said Firdaus.
“We joined the Bersih, the blackout (rallies) to slam SPR, then suddenly yesterday our own SPR did wrong [sic],” he added, referring to the Election Commission by its Malay initials.
Earlier, both Asmuni and secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali came out to admit their faults, with the former revealing that he and his committee had planned to resign over the mishap yesterday before they were stopped by Abdul Hadi himself.
In a later press conference, Abdul Hadi explained that the overlap in powers happened due to requests from party members.
“We face problems where our own members suggested for the leaders to hold posts (in the party) … We see the urging of the public, that must be taken into consideration,” he told reporters here.
He gave the example of PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abd Aziz Nik Mat, who was recommended by state party members to hold the positions of both Kelantan mentri besar and state PAS commissioner.
His remarks follow a recommendation for Sabah delegate, Dr Ali Akbar Gulasan, to raise the number of the party’s representation from Borneo to sit in PAS’s central working committee, as well as to reserve a separate deputy president post to take care of interests in the two east Malaysian states.
The annual congress is currently adjourned and will continue this afternoon, when the results of the party polls are expected to be announced.themalaymailonline.
