VETERAN lawmaker Lim Kit Siang has accused PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang of giving Islam a bad name by telling lies and untruths while acting like a “chameleon” and going against the mainstreams of Islamic development.
“As Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said last night, Hadi is aware that DAP is not pro-communist. So, when exactly did Hadi discover that DAP is pro-communist?” asked the DAP veteran.
At PH’s mega tour event in Alor Gajah last night, Anwar claimed that Hadi was aware that DAP is not pro-communist due to an agreement co-signed by PH leaders upholding Malay rights and the status of Islam as the official religion.
Lim and Anwar were responding to Hadi’s recent attack on DAP, which he said must be vehemently opposed as it is pro-communist.
The incumbent Marang MP had uploaded three images and descriptions to link DAP to the communists – the bringing back of Chin Peng’s remains to Malaysia, party members allegedly attending a memorial for communists, and allegedly publishing comics that contained such ideology.
He also claimed that any effort to uphold or sow such ideology in the country – just as DAP is doing – must be curbed and opposed.
On this matter, Lim said, “Hadi, Anwar and I signed a communiqué on the formation of Pakatan Rakyat forming a coalition PAS, PKR and DAP in 2008, but Pakatan Rakyat ended following the June 2015 PAS Muktamar when PAS leaders under Hadi cut ties with DAP.
“When did DAP become pro-communist? Was it before 2008 and after 2015, or was DAP pro-communist all along in the Pakatan Rakyat between 2008-2015?”
Sheraton Move mastermind
“Hadi is giving Islam a bad name by coming out with ridiculous statements like ‘We (PAS) don’t like DAP as it is communist. But when we were friends with DAP, it was okay. When we cooperated with Bersatu and UMNO, then DAP became communists again’,” Lim said.
“But giving Islam a bad name is not good enough for Hadi as he has made further claims that he was the mastermind of the Sheraton Move conspiracy to bring down the Pakatan Harapan government in 2020.”
Lim was referring to Hadi’s announcement last week that he was the one who had initiated the move to stop PH’s plans to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) by discussing how to oust the coalition with Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He said after Muhyiddin agreed to oust PH, he met UMNO leaders to discuss the matter. After all those involved had come to a consensus, Hadi said Muhyiddin announced that Bersatu was leaving PH.
“But the fault in Hadi’s tall tale is that the DAP leadership knew nothing about the proposed ratification of ICERD and the Rome Statute although the blame was laid on DAP’s doorstep,” Lim lamented.
“None of the DAP leaders were in charge of portfolios concerning the ratification of ICERD and the Rome Statute, and I was as surprised as everybody else when then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 about the ratification of UN covenants and treaties.
“This was why I had repeatedly asked then foreign minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah to state that the ratification fiasco in 2018 was solely the fruit of his own making and had nothing to do with DAP.”
Malaysia has not signed or ratified the ICERD, sharing the dubious honour with Myanmar, Brunei and North Korea, among 10 other countries.
ICERD signatories commit to ending all forms of racial discrimination in their countries, which some such as PAS and UMNO take to mean a dismantling of pro-Bumiputera affirmative action and privileges here.
Expressing concern that Hadi will be a major player who will inundate GE15 with “toxic politics” while seeking to “tear the plural Malaysia apart” Lim stressed that “we must not let these extremists succeed”. – Oct 26, 2022
