Police to record Hadi's statement tomorrow

The police will record PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's statement regarding his recent remark on upholding Islam at the party's headquarters tomorrow.

Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain said Hadi’s special officer set the date after informing the police about the Marang MP’s health condition, which is improving.

"We will record his (Hadi) statement tomorrow at 2.30pm at the PAS Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur," he told reporters at Pulapol today.

He was met after witnessing the handing-over of duties between the outgoing Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department director Mohd Kamarudin Md Din, who has been appointed Internal Security and Public Order Department director, and Khaw Kok Chin.

The former Internal Security and Public Order Department director Hazani Ghazali, meanwhile, has been appointed director-general of the newly formed Malaysia Checkpoints and Border Agency.

Last Friday, Razarudin was reported to have said that the police had opened an investigation paper under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948 and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 against Abdul Hadi regarding his statement published on the PAS news portal last Feb 20, which was allegedly addressed to several parties including the Malay Rulers.

On Feb 29, the sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah expressed deep regret over the statement made by Hadi which was addressed to religious scholars, judges, lawyers, MPs and State Legislative Assemblies, as well as the Malay rulers.

In a post on the Selangor Royal Office Facebook page on Feb 29, Sultan Sharafuddin conveyed this sentiment by sending a letter to Hadi through Selangor PAS commissioner Ab Halim Tamuri.

In the letter, Sultan Sharafuddin, among other things, said Hadi had made the statement without thoroughly reading His Royal Highness' speech at the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) meeting on Feb 15.

Sultan Sharafuddin described Hadi's statement as highly inappropriate as “it not only confuses but also can cause anxiety that could ultimately lead to division in Muslim unity, especially among Malays in this country”.

- Bernama