Dr M: Hadi once called Umno kafir, but now helping them against Harapan

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang used to call the Umno government 'kafir' (infidels) but now he appears to support Umno, claimed former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"Hadi is now willing to work with Umno, who he once called kafir for retaining colonialist constitution and laws.

"Now, before denying his amanat where he had said Umno is 'kafir', Hadi has become a strong Umno supporter.

“(This is) because PAS competing in the 14th general election will lessen Pakatan Harapan's votes and provide Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak with a victory.

"PAS themselves would lose (the election)," Mahathir said in a blog posting last night.

He also reproduced an excerpt of Hadi's amanat issued during the notorious Memali incident, where the Marang MP had purportedly said he is against Umno/BN for retaining colonialist laws.

Mahathir also once again blamed Hadi for the bloody incident, which claimed 18 lives.

Hadi's amanat clearly incites his followers into being willing to die in their fight against the 'kafir' Umno/BN, Mahathir pointed out.

"The government should rightfully arrest and detain Hadi for the seditious elements in his amanat.

"But Hadi has many fanatic followers who can cause chaos and riots throughout the country. That is why Hadi is not detained," he claimed.

Kedah PAS leader Ibrahim Mahmud@Ibrahim Libya was one of Hadi's "fanatic followers", he said.

He claimed that at the time, Ibrahim had been influenced by Hadi to attempt to topple the government through an armed coup.

The government was in favour of acting against Ibrahim, he said, because it was believed that acting against Ibrahim would not invite as big a reaction as acting against Hadi.

"The armed riot by Ibrahim and his followers to the death was because they were influenced by Hadi's amanat.

"Such a thing has never been done by the Malays after independence. This is not the way of the Malays," Mahathir said.

Even though PAS has often branded their political enemies as “kafir”, the nonagenarian alleged that Hadi was the one who introduced the belief that killing their political enemies is a religious responsibility, and the killers' deaths would be considered syahid (martyrdom).

The Memali incident on Nov 19, 1985 saw 18 killed, including four policemen, and many others injured when police launched an operation to arrest Ibrahim.- Mkini