“PAS is not about Islam but merely a human-created party like all other political entities.”
Such is Siti Kasim’s reminder to Ayer Kuning folks in a reaction to the Islamist party president Tan Sti Hadi Awang’s controversial call that Muslims should contemplate deferring their umrah or hajj in favour of a political victory.
“Hadi’s statement is nothing more than riding on religion given the PAS is not confident that its candidate is able to wrest control of the state constituency from incumbent UMNO,” ranted the human rights activity and lawyer in her latest YouTube video.
“He’s merely fearful that many Malay voters will be out of town when the by-election takes place this Saturday (April 26) given that now is the season for umrah or hajj pilgrimage.
“Therefore, he’s gently appealing to people who are obsessed with PAS to shelve their religious obligation in favour of political gain.”
In fact, the Marang MP’s antic has not gone unnoticed with JAKIM (the Islamic Development Malaysia Department) having flagged concern over Hadi’s statement that political success outweighs umrah or Hajj during a Perikatan Nasional (PN) event in Tapah.
In Siti Kasim’s contention, PAS – by virtue of riding on religion – need no longer compete on equal footing in terms of its candidate’s credibility or the party’s actual strength.
Betraying Islamic principles
“They will go all-out to exploit Islam even though Islam is against PAS having an incompetent leader who is both a kaki ponteng (referring to Hadi who is mostly absent from Parliament) or a recipient of gaji buta (receiving salary without fulfilling one’s obligation),” chided the Orang Asli advocate.
“PAS is really an embarrassment to Islam … Instead of being trustworthy, their behaviour and action reflect that of political extremists who hide behind the veils of religion without any principle to an extent of having no qualm to call on Muslims to forgo their religious obligations for the sake of power and position.”
As a reminder to Hadi and his obsessed followers, Siti Kasim went on to cite the Sahih Muslim Hadith verse 1825 which calls on Muslims “never to ask for leadership positions because if your wishes are granted, Allah shall distance aid from you but if you are granted one leadership role without asking, aid will come your way”.
“The Hadith criticises those who are over-zealous in chasing for positions given shouldering leadership is itself a heavy burden,” she justified.
“Being a leader is not a status symbol or pride as perceived by PAS (as reflected by Hadi’s own frequent absenteeism from Dewan Rakyat).
“Therefore, Muslims must wake up from the cocoon of obsession towards an individual when the ultimate driving force should be truth, knowledge and spiritual principles – not personality, serban (turban) or slogan.”
At the end of the day, Siti Kasim urged Muslims not to buy into Hadi’s rhetoric or even the PAS narrative.
“I only agree with one statement from Hadi’s social media posting whereby he reminded all Ayer Kuning voters not to choose wrongly for they shall regret later on.
For this I hope they will not vote for PAS and even BN (Barisan Nasional) which pledges to reject racism but how could this be done when it’s a race-centric party to begin with, hence the notion of race and religion will remain a dominant feature in our political landscape.”
This concern is fortified by a Facebook post by Hadi who envisages “merging with UMNO to change the current government, if not PAS can be a stronger opposition by winning the Ayer Kuning by-election, thus increasing the number of its seats”.
As such, Siti Kasim reiterated her call to give a chance to new faces while urging the Ayer Kuning electorate to refrain from voting both PN and BN.
“Give PSM and MUDA a chance as there are no better choices available … If we want change in our country, we need to be daring to try out both new blood and new faces.” – April 24, 2025
