Commentary by Sharon Tan

THEY came, spoke with passion and passed resolutions. The task of transforming PAS into a political power to be reckoned with would not be easy.

The seminar last Saturday, themed Memperkasakan Parti ("strengthening the party"), was attended by more than 1,000 central delegates, many of whom must have been pricked by party spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat's recent call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to oust problematic leaders.

At the seminar, party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang again reiterated PAS' resolve to stick to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and not band with Umno or Barisan Nasional (BN). But one cannot help feeling that doubts linger about PAS' intentions given that information on the so-called unity talks with Umno never filtered down to the grassroots.

As one delegate put it bluntly, people on the ground had no idea about the unity government talks and were never briefed on the issues surrounding it. PAS ought to inform its rank-and-file members so that there would be no doubts about the reasons behind the talks. But in the end, scorn was conveniently heaped on International Islamic University's Prof Dr Aziz Bari for being critical of the party and its leadership.

PAS really has to take a cognisance of a survey conducted by the Universiti Malaya's Dr Abu Hassan Hasbullah. The academic found that PAS is losing ground among young voters, the majority group in the next election. According to the survey, the young do not have much faith in the party's leadership and they also do not think that PAS is good at strategising. One positive outcome of the survey is that respondents believe PAS has a good and workable system (leadership system with the different wings). "The system is good but other aspects need changing and tweaking. There must a public relations exercise to clarify things. There must be a change in thinking for PAS to succeed in its thinking," said Abu Hassan, who polled 2,000 people nationwide.

The survey also revealed that support from its strongholds of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu is waning. Most respondents also want PAS to remain a distinct entity within PR instead of merging with its partners to become a single party.

Jaws dropped when delegates were told the survey also revealed that the PAS leadership is not as widely known in the country as the party may have imagined. The top five faces that people could identify with the party are, in descending order, Nik Aziz, Hadi, ousted Perak menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, Mohamad Sabu (Mat Sabu) and Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak. Its Youth and Wanita leaders are non-existent as far as the respondents are concerned, while a handful of the other leaders such as vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar are only known in Kedah and Kelantan.

Abu Hassan advised the party to look into some public relations exercises to promote its other leaders especially on the national stage.

The party is not devoid of talents. It has a fair share of experts in many professional fields. PAS must find more avenues for these leaders to articulate and convey their messages so that the public will get to know them. PAS must realise that to "arrive" on the national stage means its team must make its presence felt.

With rumours of an early election swirling, PAS needs to get its act together fast. If the party's conservative and progressive factions are really complementary, let it show.

Abu Hassan said the voting trend in the next general election will no longer be based on "ABU", that is, "anything but Umno". PAS needs to start cracking now to convince voters outside its traditional constituency that it genuinely deserves their votes.

PAS vice-president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man's comment that PAS must know what ought to be prioritised and what should be set aside for now should be heeded. "We must manage our differences and not widen our differences," said Tuan Ibrahim, adding that any issues should be worked out through party channels.

At the close of the one-day seminar, Hadi claimed that the meeting was a huge success but that one-day success must be translated into policies, work and strategy that will bear fruit in the next general election. Otherwise, all is lost.