Beware of the 'money hurricane' in GE13

PAS president Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang has warned members of what he termed "hurricane of money" to be unleashed by Barisan Nasional in the run-up to the much-awaited general election, and said the party must be prepared to face such a challenge.

"In the run-up to the 13th general election, the nation will see a hurricane of money going into houses and into every human soul in our country. PAS will be faced with this challenge, to face people being persuaded with money, development projects and so on, apart from the various scams that have become the main weapon of our opponents," Hadi said in his presidential address to open the 58th PAS Muktamar.

The muktamar, the final general assembly before the next polls due in March 2013, is being held at the Kelantan Islamic Training Centre (Putik) conference hall in Pengkalan Chepa.

'Different type of Malays'

Hadi said the continued delay by prime minister Najib Razak in calling for the elections was part of a strategy to not only weaken the opposition morally and financially, but also to create issues and tensions.

"During this period, too, we will be confronted by attempts to create racial discord and tension by the mainstream media, the very tools to defend the voracious UMNO-BN government. Be firm with the congregation and surely we will be safe and able to cope with this challenge," said Hadi.

Urging party workers to use a variety of communication media especially the Internet tools, Hadi reminded them that they must be open to all Malaysians, including those younger generation of Malays who he said preferred not to show their support to PAS openly.

"Young people of today are very different from the previous generations. Understand that they do not like the aggressive speeches, they support PAS, but do not want to become members. They want PAS leadership to detail its promised agenda and not just rhetoric. They are quick in keeping up with developments as they always communicate with each other via Facebook, blogs, SMS and so on," he added.

He also thanked party workers, including Harakah and the online daily Harakahdaily who "are faced with the BN media", saying they had been dedicated in their struggle despite being paid lower than their counterparts in the same profession.

'Clogs' Ulama

In his speech, themed "Forging Unity through a Benevolent State", Hadi pointed out that since the phrase 'Negara Berkebajikan' (Benevolent State) was introduced as PAS's vision at the last muktamar, many have been accusing PAS of deviating from its Islamic struggle.

But according to Hadi, the accusations stemmed from their ignorance of the Qur'anic language.

"They made these assumptions because they did not understand the language of the Qur'an and were influenced by the foreign term 'welfare state', which conveys a narrow meaning of welfare," he added.

The Marang member of parliament also touched on those Muslim scholars being exploited by UMNO, describing them as "clogs worn here and there".

He said such groups of scholars differed from that of PAS who treat their political objectives as trust instead of a means to amass wealth.

-Harakahdaily