PAS leaders return fire: Dr Mahathir is a confused Muslim

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

PAS leaders have returned fire at former premier Mahathir Mohamad for accusing their party of being "Malay political opportunists", calling him "confused" and slamming him for dividing the country along racial lines.

“Tun Dr Mahathir is a confused Muslim who has failed to differentiate between Islam and the Malays. During his reign, Islam was ridiculed and he bred Malay chauvinism and racism,” PAS MP for Buit Gantang Nizar Jamaluddin told Malaysia Chronicle.

Nizar Jamaluddin

Indeed, Mahathir - who ruled Malaysia with a fist of iron from 1981 to 2003 - did send out conflicting signals at a Perkim breaking-fast function on Tuesday night. Perkim is the Muslim Welfare Organization of Malaysia.

While the feisty 85-year old exhorted Muslims to unite or face the possibility of losing political dominance, only hours earlier he had lambasted PAS in his blog, accusing the Islamist party of being insincere by not putting the Malay agenda at the top of its struggle.

“This is exactly what is wrong with Umno and BN. We cannot divide and classify the country along racial lines. PAS is first and foremost an Islamic party and it defend the rights of the Malays along with the rights of Chinese, the Indians, the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut and all other citizens as well,” PAS national unity chairman Mujahid Yusoff Rawa told Malaysia Chronicle.

Mujahid Yusoff Rawa

“This is what Islam is about – love for the Almighty, justice and fairness. But Mahathir’s version is only about who rules the country at whatever means and costs and nothing else. That is Umno Islam. Regretfully, for as long as BN is in power, racial politics will mark the day and the people will remain divided. After 53 years, Umno has failed to unite the Muslims and the Malays - what more the country.”

Losing relevance

Of late, public sentiment has been turning against Mahathir with Malaysians blaming him for much of the social and financial problems currently swamping the nation.

Despite his claims of a bountiful legacy, having built most of Malaysia’s sprawling network of expressways and modern infrastructure, his critics including prominent economists believe that the nation would have progressed much better with another leader at the helm.

Mahathir Mohamad

But growing public disgust for his ruthlessness and megalomania has not stopped Mahathir from holding forth on national politics. Within Umno, Mahathir is still a top power broker and even Prime Minister Najib Razak has to take his cues from him.

“There are quite a large number of Indian Muslims in Malaysia but they do not figure in the political party said to be Islamic. The party, by using Islam, knows full well they are appealing to Malays almost exclusively. But the intention is not to defend the Malays but merely to gain their support. One can say they are not Malay racists. Rather they are Malay political opportunists,” Mahathir said in his blog.