PAS says sorry to Warisan, PKR
Published on: Thursday, January 03, 2019
Tawau: Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) has openly apologised to Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) Tawau, Warisan Tawau and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Tawau division for including them in a recent joint memorandum objecting to the holding of a Christmas and New Year's Eve 2019 celebration here.PAS Tawau head Mohamad Husain said what happened was a technical mistake as the list of the group objecting to the event was issued to the media without informing those involved. It was a list merely to invite them to discuss the matter."We also apologise to the media that published the news because there was no explanation (on those invited for discussion). We admit the mistake and regret what happened," he said to reporters, Wednesday.
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PAS Tawau had, initially, led a group here to issue a memorandum to protest the Christmas and New Year Eve celebrations on Monday (Dec 31, 2018), over what they claimed had elements spreading Christianity.Mohamad said various quarters were very concerned how such fiesta of Christmas and New Year Eve were held. He called on all quarters to safeguard sensitivity of the society irrespective of their religious faiths."We are not taking advantage, but instead, we want to look after the interests of Islam and no intention to gain political support because PAS itself is based on three aspects, namely dakwah (propagating Islamic teaching and values), tarbiah (educating) and being political."We were only giving our opinion for fear if the matter (organising the event) contravened Article 11 of the Federal Constitution related to freedom of religion and whereby the organiser should understand this matter touched on religious sensitivity," he said.
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Pertaining to a police report (on the memorandum) lodged by PAS Tawau on Dec 31 in response to public grouses claiming that the event has elements of propagating Christianity as Muslims were also attending the celebration organised by the office of Tawau MP Datuk Christina Liew, Mohamad said such action was only a reminder and asking the police to investigate if there was any violation of the related Act."We leave it to the police to take appropriate action if there was any violation.
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"However, we were made to understand that so far, investigations showed 'there is no case' and we hope all quarters will close the case following our open apology."If there are any parties who feel upset, just forget about it as we all know each other, and furthermore, the memorandum is not meant to annoy or hurt anybody's feelings," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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