KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has issued a strong denial against claims from the police Special Branch unit that terrorists and former communists have infiltrated their parties, saying instead that the allegation was aimed at boosting Barisan Nasional's (BN) chances in the coming polls.
Expressing shock at the startling allegation, PR lawmakers griped that the intelligence unit, tasked with collating information to protect Malaysia from perceived threats of subversion, "works for Umno".
They pointed out that this likely meant that the accusation was made with the hope of instilling fear among pro-opposition Malaysians ahead of a general election that must be held soon.
"The SB's (Special Branch) duties are merely to create fear among Malaysians so that Umno-BN can win the election," PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu (picture) told The Malaysian Insider via SMS last night.
"The SB works for Umno. If communist or JI (Jemaah Islamiah) elements wanted an armed revolt, they would not use the election as their platform," he added.
Special Branch chief assistant director of the E2(M) national social extremist threat division Mohd Sofian Md Makinuddin was quoted by national news agency Bernama on Thursday as claiming that JI elements were trying to infiltrate PAS while the communist elements were trying to infiltrate the DAP.
DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua denied the allegation against his party and accused Umno instead for being more in contact with the communists.
"As a matter of fact, Umno has had more interaction with the Chinese Communist Party than any PR parties with regular youth exchanges.
"Is Umno infiltrated by communist sympathisers?" he asked.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had once established a direct formal relationship with the Communist Youth League of China
"The SB is showing its political hand to serve its BN masters and are trying desperately to justify their existence and perpetuate BN control over the masses," Pua continued via Blackberry Messenger to The Malaysian Insider today.
PKR communication director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad agreed with his party allies, adding that the allegation was proof that the Special Branch unit has been involving itself in politics.
He challenged Mohd Sofian, his superiors in Bukit Aman and the Home Ministry to prove the claims by naming the specific individuals linked to JI or communism in PR's parties.
"Their statement reeks of the Cold War mentality," he said when asked to comment yesterday. "These accusations of communist and Islamist infiltrators have no place in a mature, 21st century society. "
In Thursday's Bernama report, Mohd Sofian had said that several leaders from PKR and Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), a PR-friendly opposition party, are believed to have attended "secret meetings" with former Malayan Communist Party leaders in Bangkok and southern Thailand.
“The effect is new political ideas which have the potential of threatening the nation’s core values have spread.
"The movement receives support from foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which assist in terms of finance, training locally and abroad as well as exposure to specific expertise in facing the general election,” he was quoted as saying.
Mohd Sofian added that the movement’s aim was to create local NGOs which would always be hostile to the government and create chaos to weaken the ruling government.
“In this matter, we worry that the opposition parties and NGOs play up controversial issues to stir hatred among the public towards the government by the time the elections come.
“Or (it’s) to increase demonstrations and incidents which can divert police attention... demonstrations will continue to be a trend in our country,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.