Tony slams Umno's Harbi strategy in Galas: No ethics, no class

GUA MUSANG - The 'clean campaign' pledge by UMNO veteran and election director Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for the Galas by-election took an interesting twist today with DAP's outspoken member of parliament Tony Pua questioning BN's use of religious sentiments on a banner.

Pua took offence over a banner in Galas with the words "Why is PAS still supporting DAP (Harbi)", and questioned whether this was what meant by the "gentleman campaign" earlier pledged by BN leaders.

The offending banner also blasts the infamous statement by DAP chairman Karpal Singh, who when expressing his opposition to an Islamic state espoused by PAS, told it could only be achieved "over my dead body". Karpal had since apologised for the remark during a ceramah in 1999, saying that his intention was not to insult Islam.

The latest contention revolved around the Arabic word harbi, a political terminology coined in the early volatile years of Islam to describe those who waged war against the emerging Muslim power.

The term harbi had been used in early Muslim political thought to describe the Muslims' enemies, as opposed to those 'friendly' non-Muslims who lived under Islamic rule and who paid the jizyah, a form of protection tax paid to the government so that non-Muslim minorities were protected by the strong Muslim army at that time.

Pua said the banner only confirmed UMNO's lack of ethics.

"No ethics, and no class. Such is UMNO," he quipped.

Razaleigh had earlier said the BN must change its campaign tactics in order to win in Galas against PAS, saying the by-election was a 'friendly contest' with no impact on Kelantan's power equation.

Meanwhile, PAS information chief Idris Ahmad said a victory in Galas would boost the momentum for Pakatan Rakyat's march to take over the federal government.

“So much can be done if we capture Putrajaya, including returning the oil royalty owed to the Kelantan state government,” he said. - Harakahdaily