The recent PAS Youth muktamar was indeed telling of its newfound political liaison with UMNO, both filled with hateful rhetoric fueled by unwavering right wing conservatism and the quintessential demonization of DAP.
Earlier today, Penang’s PAS Youth wing chief Mohd Hafiz Alias called for the preservation of the “Malay land” by asking all of its state constituencies to rise up against the so called social imbalanced suffered under the present DAP-led state government. According to him, “Malays are the second biggest population in Penang (43.6 per cent) but they only own 20.1 per cent of the land”. PAS is indeed playing a dangerous “diversion”, one that matches UMNO’s volatile game of race based fear mongering.
PAS has seemed to conveniently forgotten UMNO’s past sins and have chosen to ignore the glaring facts that lay exposed in written history. It is a well known fact that UMNO has a penchant for acquiring Malay villages and selling them off at higher prices, such is true to the case of Kampung Terang in Balik Pulau, Penang, where approximately 31 land owners sold their lands to Maison Heights Sdn Bhd. at RM8,563,983.00 in January 2012 and then sold it off to Kay Pride Sdn Bhd at RM13,457,664.00 in May 2012 – making RM5million within 5 months by exploiting the system and more so, the innocent Malay communities who were deceived in the most repulsive manner.
Lest Malaysians have forgotten, 2 of Maison Heights Sdn Bhd directors at that time were none other then UMNO Penang Deputy Chairman Dato’ Musa Sheikh Fadzir dan BN EC Chairman, Dato’ Omar Faudzar. Such land scandals orchestrated by these UMNO leaders only confirms the atrocious levels of hypocrisy that exist – calls to preserve and uphold “Malay rights” is nothing more than a convenient illusion to delude. The truth is in the pudding, so to speak and in this case – it is UMNO that continues to hold Malay communities hostages to fortune and not DAP.
This accusation is not the first and it will definitely not be the last. In the past, PAS has attempted to mar DAP’s image as chauvinist crusaders who vehemently hates everything Malay and Islam. They have sensationalize other issues such as Kampung Mutiara and Kampung Chetty by spreading gross lies, in an attempt to divert, dissect and divide Malaysians as a result of uncapped political animosity.
Fact is, the DAP-lead Penang State Government has indeed helped out communities in terms of negotiating for compensation and resettlement from developers – which is the case for villagers living in Kampung Permatang Tok Subuh in Bukit Mertajam, Kampung Chetty and Kampung Batu Ferringhi in Penang Island – families were forced to relocate and in most cases, without given a single compensation.
Almost certainly, two of the most essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind and to provide proper housing for families to live in. Pakatan Harapan has taken solid measures to ensure that social justice is upheld and human rights are not violated. By protecting the well-being of each families and continuously mediating discussions between stakeholders it should be obvious by now that Penang is one of the only states in the country that recognizes squatters rights (hak penduduk setinggan) and has made it a state sanctioned policy to ensure that adequate compensation will be given.
This relentless game of blaming DAP and Pakatan Harapan shows just how desperate PAS has become – it is now more preoccupied in pacifying its new elite allies that they have chosen to ignore facts and cold hard evidence.