Islamic affairs councillor tells Nasrudin not to slander during Ramadan

PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan has taken advantage of the allegations that Penang wants to build a Christian city, to further his party’s narrow political interest, said state executive councillor on Islamic affairs, Abdul Malik Kassim.

Saying he does not wish to address Nasrudin as an ustaz (religious scholar), Malik urged the PAS leader to refrain from spreading slander during the holy month of Ramadan.

Malik noted that Nasrudin had alleged there was a Muslim individual who supported Penang as a Christian city, where he went on to say that this man was “willing to give up his faith for wealth and position.”

Without naming the individual, Nasrudin also remarked that certain quarters were willing to do this by amending the Federal Constitution.

“In the spirit of Ramadan, I would like to advise Nasrudin to refrain from being slanderous, this does not reflect the real teaching of Islam,” Malik said at a press conference today.

Malik was referring to the April 19 debate in the Dewan Negara involving DAP senator Ariffin Omar, whose remarks Malik said were “twisted” to show that he had allegedly supported the idea of a Christian city in Penang.

Ariffin had clarified that he had asked a sarcastic question related to the matter, to challenge the claim by Umno senator Ibrahim Abu Shah, who raised the issue of the alleged Christian city.

Ariffin also criticised his critics as being “intellectually incapable of discussing the matter,” saying his remarks were taken out of context.

“Such claims were already being circulated in 2014, where Penang was carrying out a Christianisation process by distributing bibles in Malay to the Muslim community,” added Malik, who is PKR Batu Maung assemblyperson.

“The state religious authorities and the police have probed the matter but found it to be slander and lies by certain quarters.”

“A similar allegation has been now been given new life by politicians who are corrupt of ideas, they spread the propaganda that Penang is to become a Christian city,” Malik said.

“Such allegations give rise to sentiments of hatred among the different religious faiths and is a threat to the various ethnic groups, just for their narrow political interests,” he added.

Malik said such sentiments were whipped up to divert attention from the real issues burdening the rakyat.

“It is already tightly entrenched in the Federal Constitution that Islam is the official religion of the federation. No one can change this,” he added.

Malik then pointed out to Penang’s effort to promote Islam, saying since 2008, the allocations for Muslims have increased by 80 percent, and currently stands at RM457.05 million.

He said there are currently 200 Islamic institutions in Penang, while mosques and surau continue to be built.

Meanwhile, in conjunction with the coming Aidilfitri celebrations, the Penang government today announced financial aid of RM300 each to 1527 Kafa (religious) teachers, 13 Kafa supervisors, 247 teachers from Sekolah Agama Rakyat, while RM200 each was given to 202 Maahad Tahfiz teachers, 28 teachers from sekolah Pondok and 31 from Islamic kindergartens. The money will be paid on Jun 20.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the amount totals RM650,400.00, an addition to RM15.5 million which was given to the religious teachers from 2008 to 2016.

“Such aid was never given to the religious teachers by the previous state government,” Lim said.- Mkini