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Report published in Harakahdaily .

Pergerakan Islam antarabangsa kagumi kejayaan PAS
Anis Nazri
Wed | Jun 04, 08 | 11:43:57 am MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, 4 Jun (Hrkh) - Kemenangan PAS dalam pilihan raya umum ke-12, 8 Mac lalu mendapat penghargaan, selain berjaya menyuntik semangat baru kepada pejuang Islam di seluruh dunia daripada wakil-wakil gerakan Islam antarabangsa.

Penghargaan tersebut dinyatakan kepada Presiden PAS, Dato’ Seri Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang, ketika beliau menghadiri Kongres Antarabangsa Gerakan Islam Sedunia, di Istanbul, 29 hingga 30 Mei lalu.

Ustaz Hadi turut diberi penghormatan menjadi tetamu kehormat kongres itu, selain memberikan ucapan di majlis pembukaan kongres yang dianjurkan Parti Saadet, pimpinan bekas Perdana Menteri Turki, Dr Necmettin Erbakan.
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Because we didn’t arrive back to the hotel until the early hours this morning, day 4 was more like a “decompressing” day. After all, the conference finishes last night with the celebration at Sakarya. We didn’t go out until around 1 pm.
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Day 3 was a very long day, which actually continued into a very long night.

We started with a press conference by Recai Kutan at Pierrelotti. All the main guests were seated with him at the head-table.

Then, we were taken for a Bosphorus lunch cruise. I was lucky to be seated next to Ahmad Recai, a board member of ESAM. We talked about how ESAM operates and how it spreads its ideas.

But, it being a cruise, we couldn’t resist going to the upper deck to enjoy the marvelous view. The Bosphorus connects the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea. It also marks the meeting point of Europe and Asia. I got talking to more delegates while on the upper deck. So, firstly, here is Temel Karamollaoglu, Vice President of Saadet Party:

And here is the three of us enjoiyng a short chat with Atif Ozbey, Private Assistant to the Chairman of Saadet Party, Recai Kutan.

And here is YB Dr Dzul with Recai Kutan

Then, it was a 2 hour drive to Sakarya to join the celebration of 555th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul by Sultan Muhammad Al-Fatih. This was organised by the Anatolian Youths, another group supporting the Saadet Party, and part of the big Milliegurus movement family. It was held in the Sakarya stadium, and when we arrived, almost 10,000 people were already waiting inside. Ustaz Hadi gave a rousing speech which was very well received by the crowd.

Loyalty to Prof Erbakan, head of Saadet couldn’t be any clearer throughout. Whenever any speaker mentioned him, the crowd roared. And, they chanted “Mujahid Erbakan!” throughout the event.

The event finished late, at about 11pm. We went for late dinner at the nearby restaurant, where I had the pleasure to talk to Irfan from Islamic Society of Montenegro. We left Sakarya just after midnight and arrived back at Turquhouse Hotel at almost 3am. I will upload videos and pictures of Sakarya later. Dr Dzul wants to borrow the laptop..

I managed to find some time to visit a few places today. Pics below:

View of Istanbul from Turquhouse Hotel at Pierrelotti where I am staying:

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Let me start by saying, TAXI DRIVERS IN ISTANBUL ARE CRAZY!!! The one who took me back to the hotel just now did 80 in a crowded pedestrian area!

(The legendary Brother Faruqi is sitting next to me as I type this blog entry(!), so I have to behave)

Now that that’s off my chest, I should say that I arrived in Istanbul airport midnight last night. It was a very good flight. This trip is to attend a formal meeting of Islamic movement leaders from around the world organised by ESAM (Economic and Social Research Centre), the think tank of Erbakan’s Saadet Party. So, in other words, if last month I attended an event organised American conservatives, this time I am attending a meeting of Muslim conservatives.

I am here as part of the PAS delegation, which initially was supposed to be a total of five people. But, due to the situations in Malaysia, only YB TG Dato Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and YB Dr Dzulkifly Ahmad are here. They arrived before me.

The host - ESAM - went all out to honour their guests. To start with, as soon as the flight door opened, Mustafa Kaya, Deputy President of Saadet in Istanbul was already waiting. So, from the flight, straight to the VIP lounge, and then to Turquhouse Hotel in Eyup, all within a relatively very short time. I am in the same room with Dr Dzul for the next few days. So that will give us a good chance to catch up.

The International Muslim Communities Union Congress is an annual conference organised by ESAM. This year is the 17th conference. It’s a great opportunity to rub shoulders with the great and the good of the international Islamic movements from many countries including Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, etc. But the memorable one is when I got the chance to talk to Recai Kutan, leader of Saadet and head of ESAM.

Ustaz Hadi spoke at the opening session this morning. And the discussion session was good. The official report can be seen here in Turkish. I know the picture in the report is very small, but the photographer caught me getting up from my seat on right hand side of the picture. And, if you scroll down the report, you will see that they call me “Malezya İslam Partisi İngiltere Temsilcisi Wansaıful Wanjan”. I have no idea what that means, but I hope it is good!

And these are two more snaps from the first day of the conference.

At lunch on Friday, 16 May 08, YB Dr Syed Azman and YB Dato Kamarudin Jaffar - both of whom were in London - asked if I could arrange a meeting with Waytha Moorthy, chairman of Hindraf. A quick phone call later, the meeting was set in West London at 5pm. It was a good, cordial meeting. I don’t think I should disclose the content of the discussion, but I am sure an official announcement will be made in Harakahdaily very soon.

In any case, I asked Waytha a question that has been burning in my mind - since Hindu Rights Action Force is an ethno-religious grouping, is he not taking Malaysia a step backwards? Waytha, in his usual calm manner, provideed an answer that helped me to understand why things are the way they are. I personally would not do it that way, and I told him that. But at least I understand.

Some pics of the meeting:

And then, on Saturday evening, we had dinner at Ibrahimsa’s house. Joining us was the legendary Brother Faruqi, editor of Impact Magazine.

In an interview after the 2008 election, Tun Mahathir said:

During my time they would challenge me. Here I was not allowed to speak. I was given invitations to give talk to Umno members but these were withdrawn.

I can assure him that censoring dissenting voices is not just UMNO.

Malaysiakini’s article is music to my ears. It shows how PAS is beginning to accept that the elusive concept of an “Islamic state” is nearing the end of its shelf-life. It may something worth talking about 10-15 years ago, but now it is no more.

Take this for example. When asked, “What then PAS’s idea of the Islamic state?”, Dr Syed Azman said:

Let’s look beyond that [slogan], you know. The past is the past. PAS is a dynamic party. We’re not trying to portray it [Islamic state] in a narrow perspective. We’re looking in a wide range of issues. There’s no point in debating about an Islamic state on narrow issues.

“We want the people to realise that Islamic state is not just hudud. Islamic state is basically you do away with corruption, we don’t want corrupt leaders, [we want] transparent judiciary, free and fair election; it’s a democratic state.

Indeed, it is time to look beyond the slogan. It is time for PAS to move forward, abandon the quest for an “Islamic state” in its old definition, and focus on creating a liberal democracy.

That is also the call by Abdelwahab El-Affendi in the new second edition of his groundbreaking book, Who Needs an Islamic State? (see www-my-islamic-state.com). The first edition of the book was published in 1991. At that time, the book was considered heretical. But, today, almost two decades later, the ideas first presented in the book is gradually becoming mainstream. When El-Affendi first put his ideas to paper, he was ahead of the game. But now the game is slowly catching up, and Islamists have begun to understand that rather than talking about “Islamic state”, we should strive for a liberal democratic state.

In the new second edition of the book, El-Affendi has added a new chapter analysing what he calls the “Damascus model”. He compared the Damascus model to the Righteous Caliphate model, and concluded that, in fact, both models should be left where they belong - in the past. The ideas he presented in the book are certainly thought-provoking.

Going back to the Malaysiakini article, when asked what he thought about having to run a state level (he was a former MP), Dr Syed Azman said that his candidacy switch from Parliament to state legislature was at PAS’s behest and also due to its strategic planning. He said:

I know that it’s very important, we’re looking not only this election but beyond this election for someone else (younger) to take over the party’s leadership in Terengganu.

He is clearly implying that the Terengganu PAS leadership is thinking about succession, and that he is placing himself (or he is allowing himself to be placed) in a position where he, and others like him, can smoothly take over.

It is about time democrats take over the helm and shape the forward direction of the party.

Oh, by the way, I should also add that when I was doing my A-Levels at Tonbridge School, Dr Syed Azman was the president of HIZBI UK and Eire. He was, in fact, among the early generation who founded HIZBI, although before him there was the JPUK (I never quite know what JPUK stands for. Some say it is short for Jabatan PAS UK, others say Jabatan Pelajar UK). I remember attending meetings which he chaired (I was head of the A-Levels ‘tandzim’ at that time).

Malaysiakini quoted Ustaz Ahmad Awang, the Perak PAS Commissioner:

Pesuruhjaya PAS Ahmad Awang memberitahu Malaysiakini petang ini, keputusan melantik Mohamad Nizar belum muktamad dan dijangka dapat dipastikan petang esok. Katanya, calon menteri besar itu mestilah seorang berbangsa Melayu dan boleh dipilih daripada sembilan wakil rakyat PAS dan PKR.

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As always, Saifulislam posted another well-written entry which you can see here. My comment is a bit long, so I will post it in my blog as below.

There was one comment on that entry that I want to pick on. It goes like this:

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