Under the leadership of extremist Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS has turned not only more radical and racist, but also will do absolutely anything just to cling to power.
Unable to convince voters, even among Malay-Muslim voters, that Perikatan Nasional (PN) could manage the economy, PAS has started playing racial and religious issues. Desperate for votes, the radical party – riding on the Islamic platform – had warned Malaysian voters that they would “go to hell” if they voted for Pakatan Harapan (PH) or even Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 15th General Election.
The PN coalition consists of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu), Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), Homeland Solidarity Party (STAR), Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), and Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN). It’s easy to understand why it attacked opposition PH, but to also attack BN – its partner in the ruling government – like a mad dog is absolutely mind-boggling.
PN was hastily formed in March 2020 after Bersatu president Mahiaddin Yassin betrayed his own friends and allies in PH, leading to the collapse of the democratically elected PH government after just 22 months. Muhyiddin (Mahiaddin), along with 11 PKR MPs, led by traitor Azmin Ali, plotted with defeated BN and opposition PAS to form the PN backdoor government.
While PN looked like a united Malay-Muslim government on paper, it was a fragile alliance that lacked trust and competence. Behind the scenes, backstabbing and betrayal were in the works. When you squeeze all the three biggest Malay political parties – Bersatu, UMNO and PAS – to work together, it’s the recipe for disaster. As a start, UMNO and PAS were bitter enemies for 60 years.
The United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) were like Sunni and Shia Muslims, who have been butchering each other for 1,400 years. Even mosques were separated into UMNO mosques and PAS mosques. Husband and wife divorced for supporting different parties. UMNO-Muslims were prohibited from marrying PAS-Muslims and vice-versa.
The stunning defeat of BN for the first time in history in the 2018 General Election changed everything. PAS president Hadi Awang used to call UMNO-Malay “kafir” (infidels). But the greed for power and position saw Hadi happily hugging and kissing UMNO president Zahid Hamidi as UMNO and PAS formed a national cooperation – glorified as “Muafakat Nasional” under the false pretext of Malay-unity.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad once mocked and ridiculed the Islamist party – “PAS is opportunistic. When they see an opportunity, they put aside their principles. Previously, PAS accused UMNO of being an infidel party. They say that they struggle for Islam, that they cannot work with infidels or they themselves will become infidels. But now, they are willing to work with infidels.”
Under the leadership of extremist Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS has turned not only more radical and racist, but also will do absolutely anything just to cling to power. UMNO veteran Tengku Razaleigh openly branded PAS a “political prostitute” that must be defeated in the coming 15th general election. The pathetic PAS would sleep with anyone just for the sake of Vellfire or Mercedes Benz.
When now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat was formed in April 2008, PAS was one of the three component parties in the opposition political coalition. For the next seven years till 2015, PAS had gladly hugged and worked together with the People’s Justice Party (PKR) and even Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP). But when ex-PM Najib Razak bribed Hadi with a mere RM90 million, PAS switched sides.
Likewise, when ex-PM Muhyiddin bribed Hadi Awang with some minister (Hadi himself was rewarded as special envoy to the Middle East with ministerial rank) portfolios, PAS instantly switched sides to Bersatu. But for the next 33 months, none of the PAS ministers did anything useful. Its strong supporters in the state of Kelantan continue to consume muddy “teh tarik-coloured” water.
It was part of karma when traitor Muhyiddin lost power in August 2021 after betrayed by an UMNO faction led by Zahid and Najib. When lame duck PM Ismail Sabri was pressured to dissolve the Parliament on Oct 10, 2022, PAS shamelessly ran back to UMNO seeking new cooperation. No matter how Zahid insulted and rejected Hadi, the PAS president kept sending his minions to beg UMNO.
Power-hungry Muhyiddin too shamelessly wanted to work again with Pakatan Harapan, conveniently forgetting how he had betrayed his friends. It was only after PKR openly rejected Bersatu that Muhyiddin said PN would go solo. And it was only after DAP rejected PAS that Hadi started attacking non-Muslims, especially ethnic Chinese, as “roots of corruption” and DAP as communist.
After a long list of flip-flopping and switching sides, PAS has gotten so confused that it didn’t realize Chinese-dominated Gerakan is part of Perikatan Nasional. The anti-Chinese sentiment stirred by PAS will only drive Chinese and Indian voters further away from PN at a critical time when Muhyiddin is desperate for the minorities’ votes.
But the damage is done and PAS, realizing that no Chinese would be stupid enough to vote for PN, has again changed strategy at the eleventh hour. PN’s only option now is to steal Malay votes from UMNO, which is plagued with mutiny and possibly internal sabotage after Zahid dropped many warlords aligned to Ismail Sabri in an effort to consolidate the party president’s power.
Desperado PAS, trying to attract Malay voters, has deployed a “carpet bombing” tactic similar to how the US killed enemies – children or women – during the Vietnam War. All hell broke loose after PAS Youth chief Shahiful Nasir declared that voters – Muslims or non-Muslims – will “end up in hell” if they vote for opponents Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan.
Hadi Awang’s silence can be interpreted as his approval and endorsement for using religion to force people to vote for PAS. However, there’s a huge problem with the extremist tactic. Robert Ling Kui Ee, an ethnic Chinese, is PN’s candidate in the Sungai Petani parliamentary constituency in Kedah. Likewise, PN’s candidate for Bukit Mertajam is also a Chinese – Steven Koh Tien Yew.
In fact, Steven Koh, a Buddhist, is contesting on a PAS ticket. The Islamist party has another non-Muslim candidate in the Sungkai parliamentary seat – Thilak Raj Gunasegaran. In total, Bersatu and PAS have 14 non-Muslims in the 15th General Election. Does this mean all the opponent Malay-Muslims will go to hell, while Steven Koh and Thilak Raj go to heaven?
For example, Bersatu candidate Robert Ling would be against three Malay Muslims in the Bukit Mertajam parliamentary constituency – Mohammed Taufiq Johari (PKR), Shahanim Mohamad Yusoff (UMNO) and Marzuki Yahya (Pejuang). Does this mean “kafir (infidel)” Robert will go to heaven while the rest of the Muslim opponents will definitely go to hell?
Even if Hadi really is the secretary-general of God, and possessed the key to heaven, which he doesn’t, the edict that everyone will go to hell unless they vote for PN actually contradicts with his previous edict. In January 2019, the same Hadi preached that Muslims should trust Muslim leaders, regardless of the crimes they may have committed, obviously referring to his own RM90 million bribes.
Hadi declared – “If the one leading is a Muslim, even if he’s cruel, at least others can become cattle herders. But if the leaders are non-Muslims, even if they were the kindest, they will still end up in hell”. So, which is which? Is the snake oil salesman sending his non-Muslim election candidates to hell, or is he sending millions of Muslims to hell for not voting Perikatan Nasional?
Yes, PAS has basically condemned millions of Malay-Muslims to hell because the extremist Hadi Awang is desperate for power after having tasted it for 33 months. Instead of stirring up racial and religion sentiments among the Malays, the Islamist party president should worry whether he can actually go to heaven because he can’t even step his foot on the holy land of Saudi Arabia.
When former PM Muhyiddin made a four-day official visit in early 2021 to Saudi, Hadi Awang did not join the entourage. Despite his fancy position – Special Envoy to the Middle East – the so-called holiest man of PAS was excluded in the delegation, a trip which involved a meeting with the Saudi’s future King. It was a humiliation that Muhyiddin had refused to bring him along.
Muhyiddin could not bring Hadi Awang with him, even if he wanted to. Hadi might think highly of himself with his impressive badge as a special envoy, but as far as Saudi Arabia and its allies (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt) are concerned, Hadi Awang is regarded as a terrorist. The PAS supremo is banned from entering the kingdom of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
Yes, PAS president Hadi Awang is a “terrorist” by virtue of him as one of the four vice-presidents of Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), an organization which Saudi, the de-facto leader of the Middle East, has banned and categorised as a “terrorist organization”. Obviously, Muhyiddin could not bring a terrorist to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Without a visa, he would not be able to clear the Saudi immigration, even if he sneaked into Muhyiddin’s plane. It means not only Hadi could not get a tourist visa, he did not even have a diplomatic visa to enter Saudi despite being the Special Envoy to the Middle East. The fact that Saudi refused to give face to Muhyiddin speaks volumes about how radical, extreme and dangerous the PAS president is.
Hadi’s failure to step foot on Saudi soil also means a letter which he wrote in 2018 had indeed ended up in a trash bin. Upon his appointment as special envoy, the PAS president had written a letter in Arabic to all Muslim leaders worldwide in order to justify his new position. The letter was meant to impress upon Saudi of his legitimacy, which obviously failed spectacularly.
If Abdul Hadi Awang could not even get recognition from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques as a legitimate Muslim leader, let alone step foot on the holy land to visit the Kaabah and other Islamic places, who do you think will go to hell first? And he has the cheek to point his finger at who can and who cannot go to hell. If he can’t go to heaven, do you think his blind supporters would? – Finance Twitter