Kuala Lumpur: Counting 10 weeks of silence, Lim Kit Siang today continued to call out PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang to clarify his past remarks accusing the DAP of Islamophobia.
The DAP veteran noted that Hadi has continued to glibly portray his party as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-monarchy without showing any proof to substantiate his claims.
“Is Hadi suggesting that Malaysians who do not vote for PAS candidates in elections were promoting Islamophobia?” Lim asked in a statement.
Hadi had accused the DAP of spreading Islamophobia in a lengthy Facebook rant last November 28, after the contentious 15th general election that resulted in a hung Parliament before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong appointed Pakatan Harapan’s Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister to lead a “unity government”.
In August 2022, the Marang MP accused non-Muslims and non-Bumiputera of making up the bulk of what he called “roots of corruption” — those who chase illicit gains — to the detriment of the country’s economy and politics.
Hadi was questioned by the police over his remarks last December but the outcome of the investigations have not been made known so far.
Lim noted that Hadi has yet to apologise or face any action for his remarks to date.
He pointed out that it was not the first time Hadi “got away” with making unsubstantiated allegations against the DAP, which it had allied with politically in the past.
Among the incidents were in 2018 when Hadi accused the DAP of being the mastermind to Mahathir administration’s decision to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and when the PAS leader failed to report to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Islamophobia Observatory about the so-called anti-Islam part’s purported movement in Malaysia.
“Hadi must be made an example of how irresponsible a political/religious leader can be in making wild, preposterous and completely baseless allegations of political opponents, a practice which must be stopped in an era where the toxic and divisive politics of lies, falsehoods, and fake news could polarise race and religious relations in a plural society like Malaysia,” Lim said.
He promised to pursue this subject every week until Hadi breaks his silence.
“Hadi will be haunted every week to substantiate his wild and preposterous allegations against the DAP or he should recant, apologise and withdraw his preposterous allegations against the DAP,” Lim added.
