Dr Mahathir says he is sad because the Malay people are not aware of the threat that faces them. — Picture by Jack Ooi
PASIR MAS, Sept 25 — Deep in the PAS heartland, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad labelled the party’s spiritual leader today as a religious sell-out for working with non-Muslims.
The former prime minister told a Perkasa rally here that the state’s Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat was willing to jeopardise PAS’s Islamic philosophy for political expediency.
“Nowadays Nik Aziz allows everything. If a person wants to raise a pig farm next to Malay house, he said that it is permissible because the Quran only forbids us to eat pork. Willingness to allow what the opposition party is doing has caused Nik Aziz to make interpretations which are against Islamic teachings,” he said at the Perkasa rally held a few kilometres from the state capital Kota Baru.
More than 5,000 people waited under the scorching sun at the car park of the Pasir Mas railway station, with buses bringing supporters from Perak, Terengganu and Selangor.
Banners praising Dr Mahathir as a national hero were put up around the station as organisers distributed Perkasa headwear and the Malay right-wing group’s paper Suara Perkasa.
Dr Mahathir arrived wearing a yellow traditional Malay headgear, tengkolok, with his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali while accompanied by Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali.
The former Umno president said the Malays are not aware of the political threat facing them and blamed power-hungry politicians for the dire state of the community.
“I am saddened because the Malay people are not aware of the threat that faces them. Today, the Malays are divided into three groups (PAS, PKR, Umno) and not one group can obtain a percentage of Malay votes that can give a win for the community.
“The reason why the Malays are split today is because there is a person who is obsessed in becoming the prime minister. He does not care and will support everything which is racist,” he said.
Dr Mahathir ridiculed PAS leaders, claiming that they are Muslims first and Malay second.
“There are also those who are ashamed in being Malay. They say that are only Malay by fate. They instead prefer to call themselves Muslims. Yes, we understand that they are Muslims but if they prioritise Islam then act like a Muslim.
“But today they are not willing to work with other Muslims especially in Umno. Instead they support people that used to say that we must cross their dead body to make this an Islamic country,” he said, referring to DAP chairman Karpal Singh’s comment that PAS has to cross over his “dead body” to set up an Islamic state.
He also condemned Nik Aziz’s willingness to forego the party’s Islamic principles in order to appease the DAP.
“However, leaders who used to ridicule Islam in Umno are now allowing everything because they want support. Until things which are not accepted by us, he (Nik Aziz) is willing to allow because he wants to get support from this opposition party,” he said.
He added that PAS’s co-operation with the DAP has led to Nik Aziz to make decisions which are un-Islamic.
“Because of this, the Malay community is split between Umno and PAS. When Umno wants to reunite the Malay community in one movement, they reject it. Instead they are willing to work with those who threatened their religion,” he said.
Dr Mahathir stressed that the Islamist party was willing to work with the “enemies of Islam” to capture federal power in the coming general election.
“Race has been push aside and religious practice relaxed so that they can co-operate with those that are clearly the enemies of Islam. This is the result of politics from someone who is too eager in becoming the government,” he said.
Dr Mahathir continued by criticising his own party, Umno, for becoming a puppet to other communities.
“Today, the Malays are divided into three teams (Umno, PKR, PAS) and these teams have worked hard to attract the support from the other communities. This is okay but when they are willing to become puppets in the government that is only represented by Muslims in name but they have to follow whatever orders from the other races. They are willing to seize the rights promised to the Malays,” he said.
He also couldn’t resist taking a swipe at his main detractor in the Najib administration, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.
“Please tell Nazri that I have no intention in becoming the prime minister. He only became a minister because of me. People like this when we feed them rice, they will bite our hand. This is the type of leaders we have today,” he said to the applause of the crowd.
Today is also Dr Mahathir’s first visit to Kelantan since he was sprayed with a chemical irritant at Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in Pengkalan Chepa four years ago.
The former premier remains popular and has had a musical produced about his life. The musical started in Kuala Lumpur last night for a two-week run.
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