Kit Siang apologises for criticising Hadi’s ‘Kerajaan Allah’ remark

 

Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang has apologised over his rebuttal against PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s remark that the Covid-19 pandemic is a test from God that only “Allah’s government” can overcome.

He said he is retracting and apologising for his statement after being told he had misunderstood Hadi’s message.

He said after reading a news article about Hadi’s remarks yesterday, he had assumed “Allah’s government” is synonymous with “Kerajaan Islam” (Islamic government) including the Perikatan Nasional-led government.

“As a response, I issued a statement which questioned Hadi’s reported statement, with the understanding that Hadi is saying that only a ‘Kerajaan Islam’ such as the PN government can deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I had no intentions to question any belief, including Islam, but only to respond to what Hadi said as reported.

“After the statement was issued, I was told that my understanding of Hadi’s statement was mistaken, that he did not refer to any earthly government and not any ‘Kerajaan Islam’.

“With this realisation, I retracted my statement and apologised for the statement which was based on my mistaken understanding of what Hadi said,” Lim said in a statement this afternoon.

Nevertheless, despite his apology, Lim said PAS should bear responsibility for Malaysia’s poor performance in the pandemic since it is a part of the PN government.

Later, after the apology was made, Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin revealed that police had been instructed to investigate Lim’s rebuttal to Hadi.

In his Facebook post yesterday, Hadi said the pandemic is a test for people to be humble and to use their God-given intellect, as well as to be patient.

He said even rich and powerful countries could not stave off the pandemic because this is Allah’s will.

“Only the government of the prefect and almighty Allah can eradicate this pandemic at any time.

“The government of humanity will always face shortcomings and weaknesses, and have to make constant improvements to make up for these weaknesses.

“Only those who are ignorant of religion would find weaknesses for the sake of publicising it, without helping to face the challenging conditions faced by the whole world and its occupants,” he said.

In his rebuttal, Lim pointed out that Malaysia is in the last place out of 50 countries on The Economist’s return to normalcy index, which is well behind many countries who do not claim to be “Allah’s governments”. - Mkini