Hadi on way out, thanks to Anwar, says Zam

The jailed leader has bequeathed a social revolution to PAS, according to the ex-minister.

PETALING JAYA: The current move in PAS to oust Hadi Awang from the presidency is the culmination of a revolution brought into the party by Anwar Ibrahim, says former information minister Zainuddin Maidin in a blog posting that displays his contempt for both the jailed opposition leader and the Islamist party.

In an article tinged with sarcasm and irony, he says Hadi may be seeing his last days in power, rejected by forces in the party who have embraced secularism.

“The entire membership of PAS should be grateful for the incarcerated Anwar Ibrahim because he has bequeathed to their party a huge social revolution that pits the primitive and obscurantist conservatives against the progressive and dynamic forces,” he writes.

“The peak of this revolution is seen in the outright declaration by some of its leaders that the ulama leadership must be challenged and overthrown.

“The obscurantist forces had long depended on the strength of Anwar, who was the darling of the late Nik Aziz. They were confident that Anwar would take them to Putrajaya and give their leader the prime minister’s post when, in fact as far as Anwar and the Anwaristas are concerned, Hadi is fit only to be a fisherman.

“The effort to condition the PAS membership to think of Hadi as nothing more than a fisherman was carried out by Harakah when it was controlled by Anwar’s people.”

Zainuddin says PAS has been made to believe that the Prime Minister ought to come from its fold by its reckoning that Pakatan Rakyat depends on it for Malay votes.

“But it turns out that political realities have wrought a different situation,” he says. “Not only will Hadi not become Prime Minister, he will be kicked out because his style of leadership is out of sync with the times.”

He says PAS lawyer Hanifa Maidin’s bold criticism of the ulama exemplifies the views of the progressives and the intellectuals in the party.

“In truth, Hanifa’s opinion is similar to Umno’s and it is the reason why Umno is accused of being secular.

“So now the task of secularising PAS is being done from within the party itself.

“This is Anwar’s big achievement. He has infiltrated PAS with members of the progressive and dynamic force and mobilised them to project the ulama as primitive fanatics.”