Abdul Hadi must not give impression PAS backs Najib, says Rafizi

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli said he hoped PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang will attend the anti-Najib gathering on March 27 so as not to send out confusing signals that the Islamic party supports scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Rafizi said this in response to Abdul Hadi's statement in Sinar Harian today in which he said that even though he was anti-Umno, he was not against the people in Umno and therefore would not attend the anti-Najib gathering.

"I hope Abdul Hadi will be there so that the rakyat will not be confused as if he or PAS is defending Najib at a time when the rakyat's anger against the prime minister is mounting," he said in a Facebook posting today.

Rafizi said he had rarely commented about PAS or Abdul Hadi as he respected his decades-long contribution to the opposition, but was flooded with queries about the PAS leader's latest statement.

The Pandan MP said he disagreed with Abdul Hadi's "anti-Umno but not anti-Umno people or leaders" view.

"Throughout history, the Umno leadership shapes the direction and approach of Umno. That is why Umno changes every time its president changes.

"Therefore, for me, the harm Umno inflicts on the rakyat goes back to the type of people who are in the Umno leadership or becomes its president.

"If the Umno president is crude, does not care about the rakyat and is obsessed with power, then Umno and government will also be crude, does not care about the rakyat and is obsessed with power," he said.

For this reason, Rafizi said he had focused his criticism on Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Rafizi listed a laundry list of hardship which he said Najib had brought about as Umno president and, by extension, prime minister.

These include:

• Introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST);
• Discontinuation of scholarships;
• Reduction in the Higher Education Fund Loan (PTPTN);
• Abolition of fuel subsidy;
• Abolution or reduction of other subsidy leading to increase in public transport fare, toll and other items;
• Tabung Haji's funds used for risky purposes such as involving 1MDB;
• Rakyat's retirement fund channelled to 1MDB without certainty how it will be repaid;
• No end game to 1MDB's RM42 billion debt;
• National assets such as landbanks and power plants are sold to China; and
• Leaders not living according to their means.

Rafizi said stopping the harm Najib was inflicting on the rakyat, including GST, was now the top priority.

"That is why I believe efforts to replace the prime minister, even though from different groups, should be supported.

"That is why I will be attending the March 27 gathering to state our consensus that Najib needs to resign," he said. -Mkini