PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang was one of the 22 MPs who did not participate in the debate on the motion of thanks to the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat which ended yesterday (Feb 22).
This is a surprise as Hadi is the only political party leader who did not speak during the royal address debate in with the reason being most obvious.
Hadi’s five fitnahs (slanders) against the DAP are among the important reasons why the PAS president did not speak in the royal address motion in Parliament.
He expected to be challenged by DAP MPs to substantiate his five fitnahs against the DAP and he was unable to do so.
To avoid being exposed as a Muslim politician who goes against the Islamic precepts which forbid slander and fitnah, the only way was to avoid taking part in the Royal Address debate in Parliament.
Hadi’s five fitnahs against the DAP are:
- That DAP is anti-Malay: Since participating in the first general election in 1969, the DAP has fielded Malay candidates for both parliamentary and state assembly seats. Starting with the 1969 general election, DAP elected two Malay state assemblymen and have now three Malay MPs, a Malay state executive councillor, a Malay state Opposition leader and Malay state assembly members.
DAP has achieved something which PAS had never done: DAP leaders like Lim Guan Eng were prepared to sacrifice their parliamentary positions and went to jail in the defence of the dignity and morality of an under-aged Malay girl which no PAS leader had ever done.
- That DAP is anti-Islam and promoting Islamophobia: In my 58 years in politics, I had never said a harsh word against Muslims or harboured a hostile thought about Islam. Is this promoting Islamophobia?
- That DAP is communist: Hadi seems to know more than the Special Branch of Malaysia, who are world-famous for defeating a communist uprising. The Special Branch had never accused the DAP of being communist but Hadi has. Can Hadi substantiate it?
- DAP was behind the abortive Pakatan Harapan (PH) government attempt in 2018 to ratify ICERD: In actual fact, DAP Ministers and leaders knew nothing about former prime minister’s Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s speech in the United Nations (UN) in September 2018 about plans to ratify the UN human rights conventions. Hadi knew this but he is not prepared to apologise for his fitnah and unfounded allegations against the DAP.
- DAP dominates the Anwar unity government: Is Hadi prepared to say how many Ministers DAP should have in Cabinet so that he could be satisfied that DAP is not dominating the Anwar unity government?
Hadi’s absence in the royal address motion is significant as it shows that he is not prepared to commit PAS to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s tests to ensure political stability for the next five years to allow the country to unite a very polarised plural nation, and to reset and return to the original nation-building principles to become a first-rate world-class nation. – Feb 23, 2023
Retired DAP supremo and former Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, 82, has a colourful political career spanning 57 years.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
