Penang shows proof of Umno hypocrisy in 'khutbah' issue

GEORGE TOWN (Malaysian Insider) – Penang today counter-attacked Umno’s claims that chief minister Lim Guan Eng’s name was used in Friday sermons, saying the Malay party itself had performed prayers for P. Kamalanathan in the Hulu Selangor by-election campaign last April.

State religious affairs executive councillor Abdul Malik Kassim claimed Barisan Nasional (BN) had recited the Yassin in a hajat prayer held specifically for their candidate in a tough contest. Kamalanathan won beating PKR strongman Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

“If mentioning the chief minister’s name in sermons is considered not appropriate, holding a hajat prayer and reciting Yassin for a non-Muslim is even more inappropriate,” Abdul Malik said, pointing out at a picture of a BN banner inviting the public for the prayer.

He said the picture was retrieved from the internet.

“Solat hajat and reciting of Yasin are big things in the religion, it should not have been done in that aspect,” Abdul Malik added.

“The people who held this special prayers are the same people who have brought up the Friday sermon issue,” he said, referring to Umno who had claimed that several mosques in Penang have dropped the King’s name in favour of Lim’s.

Both Abdul Malik and Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mansor Othman, who was also present at the press conference, insisted that the King’s name was never dropped from Friday sermons.

They also urged the police to speed up their investigations because the “malicious slander” have put khatibs and imams in a dilemma.

Mansor asaid the state was also conducting its own investigations over the issue and would publish the probe’s outcome soon.