UMNO Muftis who don't condemn sex video....

A PAS delegate has likened the silence of mainstream ulama, especially state muftis who failed to voice their objections to the sex video tape scandal against Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, to the Devil.

This is because while prepared to breathe fire and brimstone over comparatively petty issues, they remain mute in the face of the character assassination of public figures committed by the powerful.

"They are like Syaitan the Damned. Indeed, they are worse then Syaitan the Damned," said the delegate from Ipoh Barat, Nor Azli Musa, when debating a Dewan Ulama motion to condemn the government and mainstream ulama for their inaction of the sex video scandal.

He singled out Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria, in particular, who he labelled in derision as a "poco-poco mufti" and a "yoga mufti".

"He can issue a fatwa on those issues but he remained silent on the slander of the sex video, which is a worse issue," thundered the delegate.

Nor Azli was debating in support of the motion tabled by ulama representative Mohd Fadzil Mohd Noor calling for the Muktamar to condemn the seeming collusion of the Malaysian government and mainstream ulamas in the sex video caper, whose silence can be interpreted as tacit approval for the whole business.

The motion was passed unanimously by the roughly 1,100 assembled delegates.

'Harussani did not agree'

Amidst the apparent silence on the video scandal then brewing, Harussani was reported to have classed the seemingly innocuous 'poco-poco' dance as being religiously reprehensible. The National Fatwa Council declined to follow suit and okayed the dance so long as it did not involve the rituals of other religions, violate proper conduct between men and women and modest attire was worn.

Harussani was reported to have said that he did not agree with the sex video and slander against Anwar, and told a news portal that Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia had only printed a one-sided version of his views on the sex video in their interview with him.

Most of the mainstream ulama, however, have thus far remained silent on the assault on Anwar's character through the public airing of sodomy and other sexual allegations against the former Umno leader in the mainstream press.

This incident and others in the past have led to the opposition to coin the term "ular dalam semak" (snakes in the grass) for the mainstream media, in a play on the word 'ulama'.

source:malaysiakini