Why not just arrest Mat Sabu?

(Harakah) - If Home Ministry truly believes in the ten evidences they revealed today to conclude that PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu is practising Shia, why not just arrest him?

Why Home Ministry needs to take the route of much fanfare, stirring media hype and creating public anticipation only to reveal such weak evidences, quoting blog writers, third party’s sources and Mat Sabu’s speeches to accuse the latter follows Shia teachings?

As PAS secretary general Mustafa Ali aptly puts it – the evidences presented by Home Ministry were too vague and far from being able to use to convict Mat Sabu being involved in Shia.

Shia allegation against Mat Sabu is not new, but nothing was as official as today when Home Ministry, in a special press conference, had publicly named Mat Sabu as the person UMNO vice president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi labelled as “PAS number 2” in his closing speech at UMNO General Assembly last weekend.

Instead of Zahid, it was Home Minister secretary-general Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi who did the dirty job today. Why?

The more one looks at the whole drama, the more it looks like Mat Sabu is being used as a decoy, not for Malaysian masses, but for the Malay voters, most probably to divert the attention from the amount of bad news about price hikes being spewed by UMNO-BN government since the Budget 2014 was known.

No doubt, the latest move by Home Minister had prompted Mat Sabu to take legal action against Zahid and Rahim.

In a statement issued from Langkawi, he said he had asked his lawyers to take further action against the slander levelled against him.

“Zahid has always an irresponsible record. He had previously issued a statement in Malacca calling to ‘shoot first, investigate later’,” said Mat Sabu, adding that the Shia accusation by Zahid as UMNO vice president and also Home Minister had also tarnished the government and country’s image.

On the surface, it looks like a personal attack on Mat Sabu.

Deep down, it is just another UMNO’s ploy to prevent PAS for gaining the upper hands in securing Malay votes by creating a public perception that PAS is somehow involved ‘forbidden’ ties with Shia teachings.

Home Ministry under Zahid had made their move. Now, it’s time for PAS to strike back, hard.