An interview with the Spiritual Leader

"The ISA [and other sins of the current Federal Government], will go." - Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, on what PAS will do if/when Pakatan Rakyat takes over.

OUR appointment with Nik Aziz, the Menteri Besar of Kelantan and the Islamic Party's Spiritual Leader, was set at 9 this morning at the Rumah Sri Kelantan on Jalan Stonor, KL.

Sheih Kickdefella knows I'm not a morning person but it's not easy to get Tok Guru. We focused on PAS' 18-year administration of Kelantan. No Opposition party in Malaysia can boast of such a track record.

He speaks of how the Federal government has denied the Kelantan people of the development and the projects they deserve as Malaysians. "It's one of the sins of the Federal Government," he says. When PAS (or Pakatan Rakyat) takes of the Federal Government, "that sin" will cease to be committed, along with t"he other dosa-dosa" like the ISA, he assures.

Our conversation, inevitably, strays to politics. Fortunately, the Tok Guru doesn't mind. In fact, politics and the economy, he says, are intertwined: one can't do without the other.

So, I asked him about Anwar Ibrahim's December deadline to take over the Government from the BN. The deadline, Nik Aziz told me, isn't important. What's imperative is that the takover must happen. "Mesti," he reiterates.

"How can we continue to sail on a ship whose captain is at odds with others? We must take over that ship."

Nuraina A. Samad of Jalan Sudin, who is also group editor of TELL magazine, was at the interview. We are planning a piece for the next issue of Tell. Nik Aziz, she says, is the "conscience of Kelantan". That sounds like a good heading ...

All pics by Nuraina A. Samad