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180 David Kloos

her constituency and with PAS cadres. She is seen as a representative who
‘really cares’ about people and guards maternally over political assistants and
volunteers. She is, in Dr Mariah’s words, a master of the ‘personal touch’, who
has the ‘stamina and energy’ to go around, ‘entertain’ (melayan) party activists,
hear concerns, iron out internal con icts, and so forth. Mariah, in contrast,
is not so comfortable with the often time-consuming customs, manners, and
comportment expected in meetings with (especially female) cadres and Malay-
Muslim voters. She ascribed the di erence to her rational and pragmatic
personality, but an arguably more important explanation lies in the di erent
social environments in which these women grew up and made their careers.
Unlike Mariah, Zailah was not a sleeping member parachuted into the party
to help professionalize the women’s wing. Instead, she became immersed in the
party at an early age. Although she followed a secular education, like Mariah, it
was not professional experience that allowed her to build a political career but
her long, personal, and active engagement with the party. It is this engagement,
also, that enabled her to style campaign speeches after religious lessons (usrah)
and pass down religious admonitions (tazkirah) to fellow muslimat, giving her
that ‘ustazah-like’ quality.

Figure 9.2 Siti Zailah Yuso passes down religious admonitions (tazkirah)
after a funeral. Rantau Panjang, Kelantan, 5 May 2017
(personal collection of David Kloos).

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