DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has slammed Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu’s spirited defence of PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang amid allegations of hate speech and stirring racial unrest.
Lim said Hadi has no reason for his acerbic salvo, adding that this is why the Marang MP had not been able to substantiate his “wild and preposterous” allegations against DAP and himself for the past six months.
“Faizal Azumu is very wrong. When did I become anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-royalty, and [when did I become a] communist and promote Islamophobia in my more-than-half a century of involvement in Malaysian politics?” he asked.
“Was I anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-royalty, a communist and promoting Islamophobia when Hadi approached me in 2014 with other PAS leaders to suggest that Pakatan Rakyat should replace Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as the Prime Minister-designate of Pakatan Rakyat, although Tengku Razaleigh was not in Pakatan Rakyat?
“If I had agreed, or better still, suggested that Hadi should be the Prime Minister-designate of Pakatan Rakyat, would Hadi hail me as a great fighter for Islam in Malaysia?”
Lim further questioned if he was labelled as such because he and DAP did not agree for Hadi to be prime minister in 2014 or for Muhyiddin to be prime minister in 2016.
“This is not the first time that I had spoken about my meeting with Hadi in 2014 and my meeting with Muhyiddin in 2016, and both have not denied the meetings,” he clarified.
“Can Hadi explain why as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the Middle East to two Prime Ministers from 2020–2022, he had failed to lodge a report [over the allegations] to the Organisation of Islamic Conference’s (OIC) Islamophobia Observatory?
“Can Hadi explain why he had never levelled his wild and preposterous allegations against the DAP in Parliament?”
Less polarised
Citing the Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report 2023, Lim revealed that Malaysia is not in the worst category of six countries that are “severely polarised” nor is it among the second category of nine countries that are “in danger of severe polarisation” or in the third category of six countries that are “extremely divided”.
“Malaysia belongs to the fourth and best category of seven countries which are ‘less polarised’ but with few deep divisions, together with Singapore, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, China, and India,” he clarified.
“As such, we must not allow irresponsible leaders like Hadi to plunge Malaysia into the other three categories where polarisation becomes severe with entrenched deep divisions.
“This is why the government must take firm action against Hadi for his reckless statements calculated to disturb and polarise racial peace and religious tolerance in Malaysia.” – May 26, 2023
