PAS may label as fake a viral statement by the Saudi Arabia Foreign Affairs Ministry of the country imposing a permanent entry ban on the Islamist party’s president Tan Sri Hadi Awang over dissemination of terrorism ideology as the doing of its political rivals.
It may question the authenticity of the statement from the stand-point of (i) the official statement of Saudi Arabia uses the hijrah calendar (as opposed not anno domini or AD year) and that (ii) Hadi is no longer the International Union of Muslim Scholars’ (IUMS) vice president.
But the truth is that even if the ban is true, it is nothing surprising given that the cleric has slammed Saudi Arabia five years ago as in the same league as Gulf states like Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain for believing more in Zionists than in Allah and Islam when the quartet of Gulf States added the IUMS into its terror list.
Little wonder that the so-called fake statement outlined three key reasons for Hadi’s entry ban:
- The extreme ideology posed by the said individual is a threat to the kingdom’s security and interest;
- Encouraging Muslims in his country to overthrow the current government and the name of Jihad, resulting in the death of innocent lives; and
- Open statement that supports the Shia movement as righteous and part of Islam, contrary to the belief of Ahlus Sunnah (Wal Jamaah)·
In fact, retired DAP supremo Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang had even mooted the idea that should the unity government win a resounding victory during the Aug 12 six state polls, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim must consider making representations to the Saudi Arabia government to lift its ban on the Marang MP so that he will understand the battle between open-minded and extremist Islamists in the Middle East.
This, according to the veteran lawmaker who has been accused on numerous occasions by Hadi of being anti-Islam and promoting Islamophobia, shall pave way for PAS top brass to look at Middle East and North African countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia from a different light instead of merely pursuing narrow-minded struggles that are detrimental to a plural Malaysia.
“Hadi was the special envoy to the Middle East to two prime ministers (PM) from 2020 to 2022 although how he discharged his duties remain a mystery as he was banned in Saudi Arabia and a number of countries in the Middle East,” added the country’s longest serving Opposition leader (29 years on three separate occasions). – Aug 1, 2023
