PETALING JAYA: Dr Abdul Rani Osman is the man who has successfully led Selangor PAS to its best performance in the state chapter’s history. Yet, he lost in his own division elections, and it appears that he was given the cold shoulder for not being an ulama or religious scholar.

His experience gives a glimpse of the larger scenario the Islamist party is facing based on the line-up of nominations for the party’s top posts, a process which concluded last week ahead of PAS’ muktamar or general assembly in June.

The Meru assemblyman was defeated in the race for the party division head of Kapar by his former deputy Najhan Mohd Salleh, receiving 114 votes compared with Najhan’s 282 votes.

Abdul Rani joins former Perak menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin, who was also defeated in Kampar, Perak, and PAS commissioner for Melaka, Adly Zahari, who was defeated in Alor Gajah, by their respective contenders comprising those considered to be part of the ulama group.

A day before PAS Kapar’s annual general meeting, the diminutive Abdul Rani was asked by The Malaysian Insider about his election preparations. “I have never cared and never discussed matters on the division election. Let them be,” he said.

That is the style of the medical doctor, who graduated from Egypt.  Abdul Rani’s record speaks for itself.

As the Selangor PAS commissioner, he led the Islamist party in its best performance and created history by garnering 15 state seats in the 13th general election (GE13), compared with only eight in the previous polls.

However, due to his lack of interest in becoming a prominent leader, Abdul Rani wrote to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, requesting not to be appointed the Selangor commissioner after GE13.

Abdul Hadi then appointed Datuk Iskandar Samad to replace him.

Abdul Rani started out as a PAS candidate in Meru in the 2004 general election, but lost.  He subsequently won the seat in 2008, and retained it in 2013 with a bigger majority, from 5,513 votes to 9,079.

Despite being close friends with party vice-president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, regarded as an ulama, supporters of the ulama group have never considered Abdul Rani one of them. Although he is also known to give religious lectures, he is still not considered an ulama.

They could not accept him as they have accepted Tuan Ibrahim, who received the highest number of nominations for the deputy president’s post. As of last week, Tuan Ibrahim received 59 nominations to contest the PAS deputy president’s post, compared with only nine nominations for incumbent Mohamad Sabu.

But Abdul Rani said he was not bothered about his loss as the Kapar division head because he never asked for it in the first place.

“Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), another one of my burdens gone,” he told The Malaysian Insider when informed about the result. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 24, 2015.