IT was supposed to be a forum to discuss the future of Islam under the new Pakatan Harapan government.

But for almost half the time, the audience had to bear with what seemed to be a divorced couple’s argument over who had betrayed who in the broken marriage and who got to keep the furniture.
 
The tense exchanges between the panelists from PAS and Amanah led the moderator to joke that there was enough material for another forum on the PAS-Amanah split.

The 2015 incident saw certain PAS leaders leave the Islamist party to form Parti Amanah Negara. This was after these leaders were defeated in the Islamist party’s polls.  

 The split did not go down well with some PAS leaders and their members. Amanah leaders and members were labelled “traitors” and “pests” and were accused of colluding with DAP.

On their part, Amanah leaders accused their PAS counterparts of working with the party’s arch-enemy, Umno.

These tensions were on full display at the forum organised by Muslim NGO Ikram in Shah Alam last night. 

Almost from the get-go Amanah adviser Ahmad Awang went after PAS research director Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki. The two senior party leaders had had front-row seats to the acrimonious separation in 2015.

Zuhdi in a short speech about Muslim solidarity had appeared to be extending the olive branch, which was spurned by Ahmad, who used up most of his allotted speaking time to air his grievances against his old party.

Ahmad claimed that to this day, his former friends in PAS were still boycotting his Islamic studies centre in Semanggol, Perak.

“When we talk about Muslim solidarity I have to bring up my experiences.  I am not allowed to go and preach in mosques because they are controlled by people who are disappointed they lost in the election.”

Ahmad brought up the religious teachers who had prayed for the destruction of Amanah.

When it came time for Zuhdi to speak again, he accused Amanah leaders of seizing property that they had donated to PAS when they were party members.

Zuhdi said Amanah leaders took back PAS’ kindergartens, known as PASTI, which had been donated to the party.  

“They seized the chairs and even the cupboards. These are among the things that hurt PAS members,” said Zuhdi as he tried to in explain the animosity PAS felt for Amanah.

Zuhdi said certain PAS leaders in the 2015 party elections had schemed with DAP to bring down party president Abdul Hadi Awang.

Ahmad used his next speaking slot to refute these points as well as the allegation that DAP was the dominant partner in the new government, stating Amanah had a higher proportion of minister’s posts even though DAP had more MPs.

At this point, moderator Burhanuddin Lukman quipped that the issues between PAS and Amanah were enough to hold a separate forum.

The third panelist, Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki also humorously referred to the forum as a reconciliation meeting between the two parties.

By the end of the night, Zuhdi and Ahmad appeared to have reached a ceasefire. 

The two asked each other to organise meetings with officials from the respective parties. Ahmad was hopeful of meeting with  PAS president Hadi Awang while Zuhdi asked to meet his former mentor, Amanah deputy adviser Abdul Ghani Samsudin. But neither of them stated whether they would pursue the idea of meetings on behalf of the other. – July 22, 2018.