PRESS STATEMENT
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT KOTA MELAKA, KHOO POAY TIONG
Earlier today, I came across a news report stating that two PAS MPs agreed the term “kafir” (infidel) should not be used disparagingly to insult others, especially non-Muslims.
Their statements were in response to a call made by the party’s non-Muslim supporters’ wing during the PAS Muktamar earlier this week, urging members to refrain from using terms like “kafir” or “pendatang” (immigrant), as such labels are offensive to non-Muslims.
This development, particularly after the two MPs, Dr Halimah Ali and Datuk Awang Hashim appeared to concede to the suggestion, made me question the party leaders’ sincerity in upholding this stance after years of using both terms to attack their political opponents.
Awang himself, during a Parliament session in August, publicly referred to another MP as “kafir harbi” during a shouting match in the Dewan Rakyat, which later led to his 10-day suspension.
Such remarks have not only come from PAS leaders but also from its grassroots members. During the Nenggiri by-election last year, a PAS member from Bachok was “rested” from the campaign trail after calling DAP “kafir harbi” in a ceramah.
These are just some of the many examples that show how deeply ingrained this toxic attitude is within the party from its leadership down to its grassroots.
Since the formation of the unity government in 2022, many PAS leaders have also made wild claims about their political opponents in attempts to discredit them.
Against this backdrop, the statements by Halimah and Awang appear to be nothing more than cheap political theatre a display of hypocrisy aimed at projecting an image of so-called “tolerance” by PAS in Malaysia’s multicultural setting.
Looking at the results of the 2022 general election and the 2023 state elections, PAS may have realised that its ability to expand Malay support has reached its peak. With the ongoing tensions between PAS and Bersatu within Perikatan Nasional, its numbers may even start to decline.
Therefore, these statements seem like nothing more than an attempt to woo non-Malay voters at a time when the party is beginning to lose its core base of support.
