‘PAS lying to secure votes’

Party is still gunning for a theocratic state and this will be disastrous for the economy, says MCA

PETALING JAYA: MCA lashed out at Islamist opposition party PAS for “lying to voters” by allegedly saying it would continue to champion for a theocratic state.

“PAS president Hadi Awang in a dialogue session on April 8, 2013, said that PAS will continue its struggles to instil Islamic teachings and that its welfare state concept is still a go.

“This is proof that PAS is lying in order to secure votes and is not sincere in serving the rakyat.” MCA vice-president Chor Chee Heung claimed today.

“PAS has never let go of its dream to secure a theocratic state.”

In 2011, PAS had dialed back from its goal of an Islamic state to a welfare state, which had been endorsed by its allies, DAP and PKR.

But the housing and local government minister stressed that the “theocratic state” was still on PAS’ agenda and it would be disastrous for the economy, the rights and freedom of the people.

“This is already happening in PAS-ruled states where the rights and freedom of the rakyat are taken away,” said Chor.

“Cases from barring men and women from sitting together during a New Year’s concert in Kedah, to preventing women hairstylists attending to clients of a different gender have been widely reported in the media. Can we still trust them?” asked Chor.

‘Kelantan most backward state’

Chor was apparently referring to the guidelines the PAS-lead Kedah state government had prepared for the Chinese New Year stage performances in January, which included the banning of scantily clad females onstage and dancing wildly.

They later lifted the ban on female singers, but maintained a dress code for event-goers.

Meanwhile, municipal by-laws in Kelantan last year had forbidden hairstylists from attending to customers of the opposite gender, to the dismay of the community there.

Under pressure, the Kelantan-led government soon announced non-Muslims were exempt from the by-law as they took a “second look” at it.

Chor said today that should PAS subject non-Muslims to their policies and “deprive them of their rights”, the country’s economy and tourism industry would be badly affected.

“Not only that, PAS had once also vowed to shut down the casinos in Genting Highlands. This will deeply affect the tourism industry as well as foreign investments into Malaysia

“We can already see that Kelantan is the most backward state in Malaysia for over 20 years, while Kedah’s economy has remained stagnant in the five years under its rule.

“Should PAS succeed in implementing its agenda, our nation’s tourism industry will be badly affected, and as tourism is one of the main contributors to our nation’s income, this will surely have an adverse impact on our goal to be a high-income nation,” said Chor.