Mat Sabu: Back then, we lost chest hair scaling trees, now PAS rich

GE14 | In a hirsute salvo at PAS, its former deputy president Mohamad Sabu recalled how coconut trees had to be scaled during the election period and the toll it took on their chests.

"In the past, we lost our chest hair when we had to climb coconut trees to put up PAS flags or logos," he told a ceramah in Klang last night much to the amusement of the 4,000-strong audience.

However, Mohamad, who is better known as Mat Sabu, said the Islamist party now has more colourful and quality posters after he and a group of others left PAS to form Amanah.

“Where did they get the money?” he asked.

The Amanah president also questioned how PAS could afford to contest in 547 parliament and state seats nationwide, the highest of all parties, including Umno.

For parliament seats, candidates must fork out a deposit of RM10,000 whereas those vying for state seats, it is RM5,000. This does not include the payments to local councils for putting up campaign material.

PAS' criticis have repeatedly accused the party of receiving funds from Umno, which its leaders have denied.

The issue is also the subject of a defamation lawsuit in the UK courts after PAS sued Sarawak Report's London-based editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown over an article suggesting the party received RM90 million from caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has also repeatedly denied the party is colluding with Umno to split the votes in favour of BN.

Meanwhile, Mohamad said he felt vindicated that three sons of former PAS leaders, including that of the late venerated spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, are contesting under their banner.

He said this showed that Amanah is on the right track with regard to agreeing to name former premier and Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the coalition's prime minister candidate.

Mohamad, who would be contesting the Kota Rajaparliament seat in Klang, also responded to BN's allegation that he is not from Selangor.

"Yes, I contested in Kedah, Penang, Terengganu and Kelantan.

“But my residence has been in Shah Alam, Selangor for 40 years,” he pointed out.

Therefore, Mohamad had likened his decision to contest in Kota Raja to “balik kampung” (coming back home). -Mkini