Pas Muktamar: Pas made a mistake - Shahril
MUKHRIZ MAT HUSIN
SHAH ALAM - Pas' reluctance to contest its top five posts including the president, deputy president and three vice presidents at the 69th Pas Annual Muktamar shows that there is no democracy in the party leadership.
Former Umno information chief Shahril Sufian Hamdan said that Pas as the opposition needed to seize the opportunity to dominate the news and get across their message and inspiration to the people.
"In my opinion, Pas had made a mistake because we can explain differences objectively, but what people see from the outside is that there is no democracy in Pas.
"I want to tell Pas and Perikatan Nasional (PN) that you are the opposition. As the opposition, you cannot dominate the news, stories and imagination of the people like the government.
"When you don't open up or hold a contest (for Pas’ top five posts), what makes you different from Umno? This is where I figured that they should allow (the chance to contest),” he said.
He made the remark on Keluar Sekejap podcast hosted with former Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin today.
Shahril also pointed out that the Wala' (loyalty) culture in Pas was also seen as one of the factors that led to the decision not to put the posts for contests.
He said the culture had caused many of its members to be comfortable with the party leadership so much so that they did not want to compete for the thrones.
"I think that maybe that (Wala' culture) is the answer, but as that culture is perceived negatively by some of the voters that Pas is attempting to capture, that is why they need to have the contest.
"That's why I think they had missed that opportunity, and even if the contest for the five positions was held, surely the incumbents would remain victorious," he added.
Last Friday, the media reported that there would be no contest for the top five posts in Pas at its 69th Annual Muktamar scheduled to take place on Oct 20 to 22.
Its secretary general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said that there was only one nomination each for the president and deputy president posts while one of the four vice president candidates had withdrawn.
