PERAK PAS Youth chief Hafez Sabri has chastised DAP’s Ipoh Timor MP Howard Lee Chuan How over the inappropriateness for him “to suddenly become an interpreter of the Quran and to distort the interpretation of verse 59 of Surah An-Nisa”.
The Manjoi state assemblyman further claimed that Lee’s speech was very superficial and contained elements of extreme provocation against the purity of Islam.
“Such action clearly shows the desperate move of this DAP leader who tries to fan the 3R (race, religion and royalty) issue while the government of the day is actively rejecting dissemination of 3R sentiments,” penned Hafez in his latest Facebook post.
“Who is he (Lee) to interpret the Quran at will? The person we know as non-Muslim even went to the extent of belittling the credibility of a Muslim scholar (PAS president Tan Si Hadi Awang) who is recognised for his knowledge and jurisprudence in Islam.”
According to Hafez, Lee’s actions can be categorised as an offense under the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 223 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
“He (Lee) argued based on the reasoning of al-Quran evidence that the PAS leadership should follow closely the administration method of the Madani government. In fact, what is his credibility and qualification to elaborate on the interpretation of this (Surah An-Nisa) verse when he is not even an expert of the Quran?” asked Hafez.
“Therefore, we want to see the extent to which the government, especially the Home Ministry and the Communications and Digital Ministry will act on this issue.”
As a government that is vocal in fighting for reform, Hafez further stressed the importance for implementation of the law “to be fair and to be seen as fair”.
“It shouldn’t be a case of the Malay proverb can’t see the elephant right in front of the eyes but germs from far across the ocean are visible (kuman di seberang laut nampak, gajah di depan mata tak nampak),” Hafez pointed out.
“Our reminder for Howard Lee is don’t be rude to Islam. Mind your own religion and leave my religion alone. Is this what is called riding on the religion (to gain political mileage)?” – Sept 20, 2023
