the ulama leadership

interestingly, PAS follower increase in fold lately. typically it comes from the traditional muslim follower but interestingly it also see the number of non muslim participation. they come from various background and of course with a different reason why they choose PAS as their party. it was understood before that anyone who want to be with PAS clearly know that they stand for the PAS struggle to make ISLAM as the way of life in Malaysia. i dont think this idea is applicable now. i truly believe not all of them join us for this reason.

believe with the increase of support that PAS gain recently, it come with a heavy burden to our leaders. i believe that many of the supporter are not clear with the struggle. many of them are supporting us because they dont believe in other party. not because they really support our main struggle. part of them are with us because they have a grudge or hatred towards other party. some of them see PAS as the way forward to get power and position in view of the weakness in the traditional malay party namely UMNO.

this group of people of course will jeopardise the foundation of our grassroot supporter. they can be the seeds of rift in our party and maybe they can also tarnish the islamic image that PAS trying to bring out. recently, i follow nik abduh blog and the reaction that he gets from what he wrote. i'm not trying to say that i want to side with him but i just want to comment the reaction from his writing. i found it shameful and sometimes disgusted with the response. the way few of them write did not show the spirit of a muslim people. lots of emotion and half baked story that no one can say is it right or wrong.

this kind of comments can be seen as a typical poor respect towards ulama and ustaz. i saw it as a reflection of our typical rival comments and poor akhlak. i really hope that we will not getting this kind of leaders in PAS later. furthermore, i truly believe, in whatever condition it is, ulama still need to be part of our leadership. i really hope that our tradition of selecting ulama as the leader dont stop. only ulama can guide as towards a better grip of islamic principle. they are the learnt one. they must the core in leadership and focal point in PAS in whatever reason and situation.

i truly believe that in PAS there should be no one more qualified to be on top except this group of 'ahli agama'. whether they are still young or the seasoned one, it does not matter. respect is due for them. i believe that this group of people is not with PAS for wealth and power. if that is what they want, obviously we will know how to handle them. PAS consist of a lot of professional. everyone notice that we have the cream of the muslim society in malaysia. doctors, lawyers, engineers and accountant to say the few. this group of people is the best that any party want to have. they have the brains and the know how in every aspect of profession but i still think that this group has a lacking in the islam know how that the group of ulama and ustaz have.

we have the resources to go far with a massive strength in human capital and i dont see any problem with the helping hand of our religious educated group. the one that show poor respect towards ulama and ustaz should be erased from our group of supporter. of course the ulama and the ustaz is not always right but there is always a way to tell them. obviously the act of condemning is not one of the many ways. we should work hand in hand. in PAS struggle, emotion should not be the engine of our movement. it is based on true believe that only islam is the best for everyone. i believe that emotion and hatred will not get us nowhere. this group will fall on the sideline but make sure they dont bring us together.