The Sultans in various states and the Malaysian general public have asked politicians to reduce race and religious temperatures in political arena but the PAS leaders and Members of Parliament will not be able to respond to these calls by the Rulers and the Malaysian public unless the PAS President, Hadi Awang, stop using lies, falsehoods and fake news to pursue his political interests.
In a facebook posting last Thursday which targeted me, Hadi spoke about justice and the fight against corruption.
But does Hadi really understand the meaning of justice and corruption when he could use lies, falsehoods and fake news to pursue his own political interests?
Hadi is the longest-serving PAS President, serving for over 20 years, as compared to past PAS Presidents, Burhanuddin al-Helmy, Asri Muda and Fadzil Noor who served for 13 years each.
He may the first PAS President to use lies, falsehoods and fake news to pursue his political interests.
Although it is four months since Hadi made the wild and preposterous allegation that DAP was promoting Islamophobia, he had not been able to present a single piece of evidence to substantiate the allegation and yet he would not withdraw it.
If DAP promoted Islamophobia, I would not have spoken up for PAS in Parliament on 8th November 1978 when the Barisan Nasional Federal Government declared emergency in Kelantan and took over the PAS state government in Kelantan.
Hadi Awang himself said in the Teluk Intan by-election in May 2014 that PAS was working together with DAP as a token of gratitude for standing by their side when the Kelantan government fell in 1978.
Hadi said it was DAP who defended PAS when the Kelantan government fell to Barisan Nasional then, causing chaos within the state.
I do not need Hadi’s “token of gratitude” but only for him to be honest and truthful, not resort to lies, falsehoods and fake news in the pursuit of his own political interests.
Hadi had made the wild and preposterous allegation after the 15th General Election that the DAP was promoting Islamophobia. He should retract his allegation and I will forgive him.
In the same facebook postig, Hadi referred to ICERD. Hadi now knows that he had defamed the DAP in 2018 as DAP was not the mastermind behind the Pakatan Harapan government efforts in 2018 to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Would Hadi withdraw and apologise to the DAP for all his allegations against the DAP in 2018?
And would he now answer two questions about ICERD which I had asked him in 2018, namely:
- How ICERD had adversely affected the Muslim cause in the 55 out of 57 Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OI C) Muslim countries which had ratified ICERD; and
- How ICERD had adversely affected 36 out of 38 monarchichal countries which had ratified ICRED?
I fully support the Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim’s call to the OIC to take decisive action in dealing with the issue of Islamophobia.
Does Hadi agree?