The last kick or dance of
the dying.
There are talks that there will be a purge to remove the Selangor PAS leadership led by Iskandar Abdul Samad
ANALYSIS
KUALA LUMPUR: The professional faction in PAS has left the Islamic party to form Parti Amanah Negara, and is now part of the Pakatan Harapan pact to take on Barisan Nasional in the next general election.
As for PAS, it now remains outside of Pakatan, and is on the verge of cutting off ties with its sole ally in the opposition pact, PKR.
It is understood that the Islamic party is also moving to topple the Selangor PAS leadership led by the party vice president Iskandar Abdul Samad.
The senior Selangor state exco may have aligned himself to the ulama camp during the last party election some two years ago but that didn’t stop him from being targeted from the planned purge.
Iskandar, who is an engineer by training, sees the importance of maintaining ties with PKR as PAS is still part of Selangor state government.
The Selangor PAS commissioner had warned his party that ditching PKR now would set the party back in term of grassroots strength, and will also result in PAS being replaced by Amanah in the state government.
PAS would then be left with nothing in the state government and its machinery despite having a good number of state reps in the state assembly.
When contacted by Berita Daily, Iskandar’s predecessor Dr Abdul Rani Osman said that he also heard of rumours that there was a ploy to topple the Selangor PAS leadership.
He however did not mention who was behind the plot. Neither did he mention who is being targeted for the purge.
“In the struggle for good, even in the Quran states that you will be attacked from front, left and centre.
“There will always be challenges in your struggle. This doesn’t only occur in PAS but also other parties,” the Meru assemblyman added philosophically.
He however voiced his disappointment that this culture was taking place in Selangor after the party managed to make strong inroads in the state.
“Prior to the 2008 election, it was hard to even to find a candidate who was willing to stand to represent PAS.
“Now that we have won 15 seats in the last election, suddenly you want to take these people down?
“History has never lied, you must admit that these people had worked relentlessly to bring PAS to this level,” said Abdul Rani who praised Iskandar’s dedication to his work in leading the party in Selangor.
Political analyst Ibrahim Suffian of Merdeka Center however said that it was hard to identify the motive behind the calls from PAS divisions in Selangor to ditch PKR. But he believed that it may have something to do with the coming party elections.
“Most of the professionals have left the party and those who remain are loyal to the president.
“I believe that these statements have something to do with the divisional elections that is ongoing.
“Especially this week, the Selangor PAS commissioner Iskandar Abdul Samad will be defending his post as division chairman. So these issues were brought up to give the picture that PAS can stand alone without collaborating with other parties,” said Ibrahim in a WhatsApp reply to Berita Daily.
PAS won an unprecedented 15 state seats in Selangor in GE13, equalling DAP’s 15 state seats. PKR contributed 14 state seats, giving the then Pakatan Rakyat government a two-thirds majority. Selangor offers 56 state seats.
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