THE Sultans in various states and the Malaysian general public have asked politicians to reduce race and religious temperatures in political arena but PAS leaders and MPs will not be able to respond to these calls by the Malay rulers and the Malaysian public unless its president Tan Sri Hadi Awang stop using lies, falsehoods and fake news to pursue his political interests.
In a Facebook post last Thursday (March 23) which targeted me, Hadi spoke about justice and the fight against corruption.
But does Hadi really understand the meaning of justice and corruption when he could use lies, falsehoods and fake news to pursue his own political interests?
Hadi is the longest-serving PAS president – serving for over 20 years – as compared to past PAS presidents, Datuk Seri Burhanuddin al-Helmy, Tan Sri Asri Muda and Datuk Fadzil Noor who served for 13 years each.
He may be the first PAS President to use lies, falsehoods and fake news to pursue his political interests.
Although it has been four months since Hadi made the wild and preposterous allegation that DAP was promoting Islamophobia, he had not been able to present a single piece of evidence to substantiate the allegation and yet he would not withdraw it.
If DAP promoted Islamophobia, I would not have spoken up for PAS in Parliament on Nov 8, 1978 when the Barisan Nasional (BN) Federal government declared emergency in Kelantan and took over the PAS state government.
Ungrateful Hadi
Hadi himself said in the Teluk Intan by-election in May 2014 that PAS was working together with DAP as a token of gratitude for standing by their side when the Kelantan government fell in 1978.
Hadi said it was DAP who defended PAS when the Kelantan government fell to BN which eventually caused chaos within the state.
I do not need Hadi’s “token of gratitude” but only for him to be honest and truthful – and not resort to lies, falsehoods and fake news in the pursuit of his own political interests.
Hadi had made the wild and preposterous allegation after the 15th General Election (GE15) that the DAP was promoting Islamophobia. He should retract his allegation that I will forgive him.
In the same FB post, Hadi also referred to ICERD. Hadi now knows that he had defamed the DAP in 2018 as DAP was not the mastermind behind the then Pakatan Harapan (PH) government efforts to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
Would Hadi withdraw and apologise to the DAP for all his allegations against the DAP in 2018? And would he now answer two questions about ICERD which I had asked him in 2018, namely:
- How ICERD had adversely affected the Muslim cause in the 55 out of 57 Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OI C) Muslim countries which had ratified ICERD; and
- How ICERD had adversely affected 36 out of 38 monarchical countries which had ratified ICRED?
I fully support Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s call to the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) to take decisive action in dealing with the issue of Islamophobia.
Does Hadi agree? – March 27, 2023
Veteran lawmaker and retired DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is the incumbent MP for Iskandar Puteri.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
