KUALA LUMPUR: The real question after PAS’s fiery annual assembly is not where the party is going, but what those considered progressive and liberal will do next.

The party’s conservative president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, has clearly shown that anyone who doesn’t agree with him is welcome to leave.

Hadi remains firmly in control of his party and has the support of the ulama through the Shura Council.

And as the party’s 60th muktamar which ended on Saturday has shown, a good number of delegates are behind him, too, over the Selangor menteri besar impasse and political cooperation with DAP and PKR in Pakatan Rakyat.

“In the party, there is only one imam. If anyone else wants to be an imam as well, find another plot of land and build your own mosque,” Hadi said in his winding-up speech at the party’s annual assembly in Batu Pahat, Johor, on Saturday.

In saying this, Hadi took a different approach from past presidents. The president’s winding-up speech at the end of the muktamar is normally used to close ranks and bridge differences in the party.

But Hadi came out with guns blazing, stating in no uncertain terms that those who differ with him should get out.

Hadi is at odds with the party’s central committee, which decided that political cooperation with allies PKR and DAP was more important to PAS’s future than the menteri besar’s seat.

While the central committee decided to stick to PKR and DAP’s decision to back PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the state’s top post, Hadi threw his support behind incumbent Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Later, while PKR and DAP nominated only Dr Wan Azizah, Hadi sidelined the central committee when he decided, on his own, to submit the names of three assemblymen to the palace.

Some observers felt that with Hadi’s closing speech, PAS might be headed for a move that would severely impact on its ties with Pakatan. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 22, 2014.