PAS slams Dr M for attacking muftis

‘Don’t drag religious heads into political matters’

JOHOR BARU: Johor PAS has slammed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his attacks on muftis over the Memali tragedy, which occurred more than three decades ago.

State PAS commissioner Abdullah Husin said Dr Mahathir should not have dragged the muftis into his political game.

“Dr Mahathir is digging up old issues because the general election is around the corner.

“His labelling of muftis as kafir (infidel) will cause disunity among Muslims and this is worrying,” he said yesterday.

Earlier yesterday, the state PAS lodged a report at the Johor Baru South Sentral police station here against Dr Mahathir for his remarks.

News reports quoted Dr Mahathir as saying that the muftis should be blamed for not preventing the Memali tragedy from happening.

During his speech at the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia AGM on Saturday, Dr Mahathir, who is Pribumi chairman, allegedly said that the Memali tragedy had occurred because of silence from the muftis over “Amanat Haji Hadi” – a proclamation in 1981 by Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (now PAS president) – that Umno and its members were infidels.

On April 7, 1985, 14 villagers and four policemen were killed during clashes in Memali when the autho- rities tried to arrest religious preacher Ibrahim Mahmud for alleged deviant teachings.

Abdullah also said PAS wanted a Royal Commission of Inquiry to be set up to find out who was responsible for the Memali incident and to clear up any accusations and misunderstandings over the matter.

“Dr Mahathir slandered our president when he said the Memali tragedy was caused by Amanat Haji Hadi. This is a false accusation against our party president.

“Dr Mahathir is only interested in distancing himself from the Memali incident because he was the prime minister at that time,” said Abdullah.