71-year old Karpal Singh, the DAP chairman, is not the least bit miffed by his 85-year old arch enemy Mahathir Mohamad.
The former prime minister had a day ago told Karpal he need not have to die after all because PAS, their common punching bag, was no longer keen on right-wing Islamic fundamentalism.
The generous-hearted Karpal, known for his pro-bono legal work for the poor, retorted by inviting Mahathir to repent for his sins, past and presnt.
“He has done many wrongs and he should use the years ahead of him tobertaubat (repent) on how he has wronged the country and the rakyat(populace) over the years,” Karpal told reporters on Wednesday.
He also congratulated PAS for officially and publicly shifting to a moderate political stance, focusing on a welfare rather than Islamic state, during the party's recent annual congress over the weekend.
“This is something which all Muslims and non-Muslims would like to see and something to strive for, for the benefit of Muslims and non-Muslims. This is also something we would like to strive for,” said Karpal.
The DAP, PAS and PKR form Malaysia's main opposition front, the Pakatan Rakyat.
A signal to other UMNO hawks
On Tuesday, Mahathir had posted on his blog his views on the PAS transformation plan.
The landmark decision has shaken his UMNO party to the core. Mahathir and other members of the UMNO elite had hoped to push their main rival for the Malay votes into greater fundamentalism by using units such as Perkasa and Pembela to out-Malay and out-Islamize PAS.
But the move failed. PAS not only rejected UMNO's overtures for a merger, but also shocked the nationalist party by moving towards a more moderate and inclusive brand of politics. This would immediately raise PAS to the same playing field for the Malay votes as UMNO.
“The person who won big did not attend the muktamar (congress) and is not even a PAS member. That person is Karpal Singh. His fight against PAS’s plans to build an Islamic state which would have enforced hudud law has been achieved,” Mahathir wrote in his popular chedet blog on Tuesday.
"PAS no longer has to cross over Karpal’s dead body, nor does Karpal have to die. He is not even dead and PAS has made its struggle for an Islamic state a matter of secondary importance, now that PAS will be fighting for a welfare state instead.”
Mahathir must have known his words could not possible carry weight with PAS, whose members are thrilled with the pace of reform in their party and raring to challenge UMNO for the Malay middle ground.
Even so, Mahathir's posting will signal to other hardliners within UMNO that they must press on with their brand of divide-and-rule racial and religious politicking rather than allow Prime Minister Najib Razak to soften to a more inclusive stance.
This was not lost on Karpal, who descibed Mahathir as being "over the hill" and blamed him for the country's current woes.
“As a prime minister, he was stubborn and he should not behave like that," said Karpal. - Malaysia Chronicle
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