PAS will be fielding young leaders to run for the state seats in Kelantan including incumbent Pengkalan Chepa MP Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah who is strongly tipped to be the next-in-line to head the state.

A final list of PAS candidates in Kelantan shows that the young Ulama (religious scholar) will be contesting for the Pancur state seat - a sign of the party's readiness to groom a new leader to take over from PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat as menteri besar.

The list made available to malaysiakini also revealed that Nik Abdul Aziz's deputy Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman who has been speculated to take over from his leader will run for the Pengkalan Chepa parliamentary seat instead.

PAS Kelantan information chief Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah did not dismiss the possibility that Nik Amar may be groomed to take over Nik Aziz who, he said, has dropped hints of calling it a day for quite some time.

He pointed out that Nik Amar, 45, has traits that mirror Nik Aziz's and, believes that it will not be too difficult for the young politician to win over Kelantanese hearts.

"He has credible Islamic credentials and excellent leadership qualities. He is a popular orator among the people of Kelantan. On top of that his religious classes are also famous...just like Tok Guru's," he said.

Plus point

He said Nik Amar's (photo) strong PAS background is a valuable plus point as heir apparent to Nik Aziz.(His father, the late Nik Abdullah was also a PAS Kelantan leader and Pengkalan Chepa Pauh MP in 1986 and 1990)

He was one of the best students and the headboy at the renowned religious school in Kota Bharu, Maa'had Mahamadiah, before enrolling in the International Islamic University (IIU) in Kuala Lumpur to win a degree in Islamic studies.

He was in the United Kingdom for a few years to read for his masters and, subsequently lectured at IIU until he won the Pangkalan Chepas seat in the 1995 general election.

In the 1999 elections he retained his seat easily by beating Umno's Mohd Noor Deris with a thumping 15,945 majority.

Meanwhile, Wan Abdul Rahim also confirmed talk that incumbent Kubang Krian MP Husam Musa has been dropped from the state parliament line-up, instead he would be contesting the Demit state seat.

"His move to the state is solely to strengthen the PAS administration in Kelantan," said Wan Abdul Rahim.

Ulama-partnership

PAS sources revealed that Husam, 45, an economic graduate from Universiti Malaya, was switched to the state level to compliment Nik Amar's leadership when the latter takes over.

"It would be an Ulama-partnership for Kelantan. It will be a formidable team and it would make it even more difficult to unseat PAS from the seat," said the sources.

The sources also dismissed the notion that pulling out Husam would weaken the opposition's parliamentary team.

"Husam's Kubang Kerian seat is taken over by PAS youth chief Salahuddin Ayub who is the only non-Kelantanese PAS member to run in the state. The youth leader can be as vocal as Husam, we have no doubt about that."

Husam, when contacted, was also of the same mind, saying Salahuddin would be able to provide a stronger voice in parliament.

Asked if the move to the state level can be seen as a demotion, Husam said: "We don't have that kind of benchmark. If the party believes that I can serve better as Demit assemblyman that I will abide by that."

Good fight

He preferred to remain silent on the speculation that he and Nik Amar are being prepared for the next tier of state leadership.

"I don't know if I have the qualification to be at the top leadership level in Kelantan. At this point, I will concentrate only on putting up a good fight for the Demit state seat and insya'Allah if I win, I will try best to serve the people there," he said.

As to the petition that he run for both state and parliamentary seats, Husam said that PAS Kelantan does not favour such practice.

Husam served as press secretary to Nik Aziz from 1990-1993 and as political secretary from 1993-1999.

In his maiden electoral outing in 1999, Husam galloped to a 16,091majority victory over Barisan Nasional's Zaleha Hussin. A total of 34,677 votes were cast.

The list also revealed that most incumbents are defending their seats. Among them are Kamarudin Jaffar (Tumpat parliamentary seat), Anuar Tan (Kota Lama state seat), Wan Ismail Jusoh (Melor state seat) and, Apendi Mohamad (Jeli parliamentary seat).



Women candidates

Determined to court women voters, two Muslimat leaders Kalthom Othman and Rohani Ibrahim have been picked to contest the Pasir Puteh parliamentary seat and the Tanjung Mas state seat respectively.

Both constituencies are considered safe for the party.

Keadilan will be vying for three parliamentary seats (Ketereh, Kota Bharu and Tanah Merah) and two state seats (Paloh and Nenggiri).

Election newcomer Dr Zulkifli Muhamad has been chosen by the state leadership to tilt against Umno supreme council member Tengku Razeleigh Hamzah for the Gua Musang parliamentary seat.

Except for Ketereh incumbent Muhamad Mustafa who unseated former minister Anuar Musa in 1999, Keadilan has yet to finalise their candidates for the other seats.

Meanwhile, Wan Abdul Rahim said that the full list of candidates for PAS and Keadilan in Kelantan will be revealed at an official function tomorrow night in Kota Bharu.