Najib hugged me, I didn't hug him - Hadi explains 'premier' cuddle

Abdul Hadi Awang has revealed the existence of a political twist behind Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and him hugging each other, which is to convince Umno people to vote for PAS.

The PAS president also clarified that it was Najib and not him who initiated the embrace and that it would be impolite not to reciprocate.

“I did not hug him but he hugged me. He hugged me first, we can't push him away. That is our way and we want to show that we (PAS) are not a bad party,” he said.

Furthermore, Hadi explained that PAS wanted Umno people to vote for the Islamist party.

“Umno people should not vote for Umno anymore, vote us (PAS). If we want to tell Umno people to vote for us, we must act in a good manner, not fight...,” he added.

The hug was among the questions posed to the PAS president by the Chinese community during a dialogue session in Terengganu, according to a Harakah Online article, titled “Cina tanya, Tok Guru jawab”.

To another question, Hadi also described the claim that PAS would join BN as a lie.

“In the past, we joined BN in 1974. But they hammered us in Kelantan. They blocked us from doing what we wanted, they told us to follow them, things which were not right.

“We came out of BN. We will never enter BN again. What we want is to destroy (hancurkan) BN. We made another 'pakatan' (pact), Gagasan Sejahtera. Now, two, three parties are with us. NGOs, including non-Muslim associations, are with us.

“We will rule with Gagasan Sejathtera. PAS will contest in more than 130 parliamentary seats throughout Malaysia. PAS will contest 130 seats and our friends from Gagasan Sejathera will contest several more seats. So, how can we enter BN? We are fighting BN in this election,” Hadi added.

Below are the other questions and answers:

Is it true that PAS took RM90 million from Umno?

This is not correct. There is a 'newspaper' (Sarawak Report) in England which published the news that we took RM90 million from Umno. We have sued the paper in England. We have won several rounds in that suit.

It is a fake news and our suit is still being heard in a court in England, not in a court here. RM90 million is little. We want RM900 million. It is not enough to fight Umno with RM90 million.

PAS has members all over Malaysia. PAS' membership is one million at present. PAS has branches in 196 parliamentary constituencies throughout Malaysia. Of the one million PAS members, there are those who give RM1, RM5, there are those who give RM5,000 and RM10,000 (in contribution).

We want to fight Umno, so how can Umno give money (to PAS) because we want to fight them? Look at the candidates (for the general election) later. We will fight Umno and BN. We want to hold power on our own.

Why did PAS leave Pakatan Rakyat?

It is because of DAP and PKR, which do not support Islam which PAS champions. Although the law (syariah law) is only for Muslims and not non-Muslims. But they opposed (the implementation of the law) on Muslims. They (DAP) cannot interfere in Muslims' rights. What DAP did caused us to fight. Non-Muslims interfering in Islamic affairs, and Muslims interfering in non-Muslim affairs, this should not happen. There are boundaries. When DAP interfered in Islamic matters, we could no longer be with them.

The Chinese should remember the May 13 incident. It happened in Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Perak... Malays fought with the Chinese. But in Kelantan and Terengganu, there was no May 13 incident. We must realise that if Muslims hold on to Islam, a Chinese family... can live in a Malay village, operate a shop, earn a livelihood and not fight.

We do not want fights because we are all rakyat, must be the same and be treated fairly. Because DAP could not accept what we wanted, we left DAP, what more follow the former prime minister. Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) is now friends with DAP. The Chinese people know what Mahathir did in the past.

When PAS rules, will the Chinese also have their hands chopped off?

This is hudud. Hudud is for Muslims. Islamic laws cannot be imposed on non-Muslims. It is not me who says this. The Quran says this. There is a verse in the Quran which means 'if non-Muslims come to you, give them a choice (of which law is to be used)'. Hudud is syariah law for Muslims. The Federal Constitution says that the Syariah Court cannot punish non-Muslims. They have their own laws. We must realise that there are now many crimes of robbery and theft. Islamic laws are meant to frighten robbers and thieves, it is difficult to pass sentence... Whipping in Islam cannot harm a wrongdoer. Whipping in white man's law causes injury, the skin tears until tissue and bones are visible.

In Aceh, Indonesia, Islamic law is implemented. Non-Muslims are given the choice of whether they want whipping (under Islamic law) or four months jail (under civil law). But what happens in Aceh is that Chinese people choose to be whipped 20 times (for their crimes), it is embarrassing for a while, but he does not want four months jail...

We have ruled Kelantan for 28 years. Have there been people whose hands have been chopped off in Kelantan? No. When PAS rules, Chinese people can consume liquor and pork. This is the right of non-Muslims and we cannot prevent it. But a Muslim who consumes liquor will be punished.

Why doesn't PAS talk about 1MDB?

We have to realise that Umno-BN's wrongdoings are not limited to just 1MDB, it includes the Perwaja Steel scandal. It also includes the Employees Provident Fund, Port Klang Free Zone issues and many others. Now it's 1MDB. PAS talks about all issues including 1MDB, Perwaja and others, calling for investigations.

But they (Pakatan Harapan) only talk about 1MDB. Why? Because they want to topple Najib and not Umno. Because linking Najib with 1MDB can bring him down. After this, DAP and Mahathir will go back to conspiring with Umno. That's the truth which we must understand.

We should not follow Harapan's politics of going in circles. PAS fights against everyone and PAS formed the Gagasan Sejahtera, which is our own coalition. What I hope is that the minister in charge of Parliament affairs will say that all leaders of political parties will be investigated by MACC due to abuse of power. BN is investigated, Harapan – DAP, PKR and Bersatu – are investigated but no one from PAS is investigated (because) PAS is clean and free from corruption. The people know that we do not commit any wrongdoing. The people should believe in us. We want the Chinese to vote for PAS again in this general election, InsyaAllah. - Mkini