Hadi claims misquoted over Islamic state issue

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang claimed today that a newspaper had misquoted him over recent remarks made over Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) deadlock on the Islamic state concept.

Yesterday, The Starreported Hadi as saying that PAS would not bow to any pressure from PR coalition members to abandon its push for an Islamic state if the opposition were to take over Putrajaya.

“We will bow to no one... When we make promises, we do not merely provide lip service. As Muslims, we will stand by promises made to non-Muslims,” Hadi (picture) was quoted as saying in The Star report.

In response, Dr Shamsul Samsuri Mokhtar, who is political secretary to the PAS president, said that Hadi was actually talking about the positive developments in PR parties’ willingness to discuss the issue, where they understood PAS’s “interpretation” of Islam.

“What needs to be pointed out is that the news report had given wrong picture of what was said during the PAS president’s speech on January 9.

“What was stressed by the PAS president was that PAS will continue to protect Islam as the official religion under the federal constitution, whereby any change has to be within the scope of the constitution, and is mindful of the position of Islam without jeopardising other faiths in the country,” said Shamsul in a statement.

According to the political secretary, the bulk of Hadi’s speech on January 9 had touched on PR’s “paradigm” shift in standing firm with PAS in line with what had been agreed on in PR’s Common Policy Framework (CPF).

“Therefore, what was reported in The Star is untrue and was taken completely out of context,” Shamsul said.

During the PR convention in Kepala Batas last month, DAP national chairman Karpal Singh expressed worry that Barisan Nasional (BN) would “sow discord” among PR leaders by exploiting the Islamic state issue, which has long been a point of contention between PAS and the DAP.

Karpal had pushed for a PR-level discussion on the issue, saying that he was “confident” that a consensus could be reached.

The DAP is against the idea of transforming Malaysia into an Islamic state but PAS has recently renewed its push for the concept, saying it will be implemented in stages should PR win federal power.

PAS has welcomed the idea of discussing the concept, but has also said that it needed more time to explain its stand on the matter. - Malaysian Insider