Ex-Selangor MB ‘Mat Tyson’ joins PAS, says it’s time for change

KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — Former Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib joined PAS today, bolstering Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) campaign to retain Selangor in Election 2013.

Muhammad, who helmed the country’s wealthiest state from 1986 to 1997, said Malaysia and Selangor had enjoyed development under Barisan Nasional (BN), but stressed that it was time for change.

Muhammad (2nd right) says that Islam must shine from the Klang Valley, Selangor and Shah Alam. — Picture by Amin Iskandar“Children will be messed up if development is soulless,” Muhammad told reporters at the PAS headquarters here.

“Look at Shah Alam. Which party can restore the soul? It must be a party that fights for religion,” he added.

Muhammad pointed out that although Islam was the country’s official religion, there were still Malay schoolgirls who did not wear headscarves.

“Say Islam, but look, there are school kids who wear skirts, they also wear baju kurungs, they also wear tudungs (headscarves), so it’s not clear,” he said.

Muhammad’s last post with Umno was as its information chief under former party president Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who stepped down in 2009.

Muhammad said that Islam must grow in the cities as many Malays were living there.

“The Klang Valley, Selangor, Shah Alam must become centres that shine Islam,” he said.

Incumbent Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, who is seen as a moderate voice in PAS, will be defending his seat against BN’s Datuk Zulkifli Noordin.

The Islamist party’s pull of Muhammad and several establishment figures will help hone its evolving image as a progressive party bidding for federal power in multi-racial Malaysia at the May 5 polls.

Several corporate figures and senior government pensioners, including high-ranking officers such as former secretary-generals, ex-envoys as well as those from the police and armed forces, have joined PAS at the end of their service.

Among them are former criminal investigation police chief Datuk Fauzi Shaari, former Land and Cooperative Development Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Nik Zain Nik Yusof and Datuk Ramli Buyong, the deputy vice-president of Felcra Berhad.