There is a question I want to ask the PAS President, Hadi Awang, whether telling lies, falsehoods, and fake news has become the “second nature” of his personality, which make him hurl wild and preposterous allegations which he could not substantiate?
Is it possible for him to become a responsible, honest, and respected Islamic leader again who distances himself from lies, falsehoods, fake news, and unsubstantiated wild and preposterous allegations?
Does he still believe in what he said during the Teluk Intan by-election in May 2014, where he reminded PAS members that DAP had helped PAS when the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition tried to oust the party from ruling Kelantan during the 1977 Kelantan Emergency and that although there were so many things different between DAP and PAS, like what is halal (permissible) and haram (forbidden), alcohol, pork, and hudud, the two parties agree with each other in eradicating poverty, cruelty, and corruption, among others?
Does he still believe that DAP was the “mastermind” in the attempted ratification of the International Covenant of the Elimination of Discrimination (ICERD) under the Pakatan Harapan government in 2018 and did he seek a clarification from Mahathir Mohamad, who was the Prime Minister at the time, to find out the real “mastermind” of the attempted ratification?
Can he now cite a single case of the 55 out of 57 Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) Muslim countries where Islam was undermined or a single case of the 36 out of 38 countries with monarchical system where the monarchical system was affected as a result of the ratification of ICERD?
Hadi has made many wild and preposterous allegations, like for instance that non-Muslims and non-Malays were “plunderers” who gave and received bribes and had conned the Malays and Muslims of their rights for over a half a century; that the DAP had targeted Malays who were “ignorant about their faith” to amass political power and that DAP “lured” certain Malay figures to become its “puppets” and the latest of all, that the federal administration is unfit to govern because it is dominated by non-Malays.
Can he substantiate these wild and preposterous allegations, or do they belong to the realm of lies, falsehoods, and fake news which Hadi has recently become addicted to?
Hadi has been conspicuously silent on the the damning finding of an analysis by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), which worked together with the University of Nottingham Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Universiti Malaysia Sabah on the social media in the recent 15th General Election and found that Hadi and PAS were the biggest amplifiers of race in the last general election.
Why is this so?
(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 3rd June 2023)