25 January 2002 1459 hrs (GMT) 2259 hrs (SST) Leader of Fateha group quits by Farah Abdul Rahim
Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff (file picture)

The controversy surrounding Fateha.com has taken a sudden, unexpected twist.

Fateha's founder, Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff on Friday resigned to protect the group.

But his resignation may have come too late.

Seven other members of the group have also quit.

They say Fateha was never meant to have a political agenda, and they want to distance themselves from Zulfikar's stand on the ISD arrests, and his criticism of Malay MPs.

In his resignation letter, Zulfikar said that he wanted to take a break from social activism.

Speaking to Channel News Asia, Zulfikar explained his reasons for quitting.

He said, "There are 2 main factors. One is that I'm actually quite exhausted mentally. I've been speaking out for 2 years and I think I deserve a little break. The other reason is I think there is a lot of personal attacks over the past week and its best for Fateha if I leave so they will not be affected."

Meanwhile, several of the other Fateha members who quit held a media conference.

The members who quit are 22-year-old NUS undergraduate Mohamed Nawab, who used to be its treasurer, 27-year-old Faris Osman, who wrote about the media on Fateha's website, and 25-year-old Terence Nunis, who wrote about education matters.

The other 4 who have resigned are Siti Aisyah Mohamed Tumpang, Alzarina Abideen, Mohamed Riaz Mohd Salleh and Sapinah Mohd Yusoff.

The seven say they quit Fateha because they were unhappy with Zulfikar's "one man" style of leadership.

Mohamed Nawab said, "We did remind Mr Zulfikar time and again that we did not set up the organisation to be political but he continued to be political in his agendas and so on. That's why we decided to move away.

"Mr Zulfikar's resignation will not assist the situation because he will leave the baggage in Fateha. If we had stick on in Fateha, we would have to deal with this baggage and clear the baggage which he to a certain extent created."

The seven say they have not ruled out the possibility of setting up a new group.

On Friday evening, some mosque leaders came out to welcome Zulfikar's resignation.