‘PREVIOUS GOVT LEADERS DEVIATED FROM ISLAM’
Muslim voters used the power of the ballot to replace them with PH leaders, says PM
MUSLIM leaders from the previous administration were voted out in the 14th General Election (GE14) because they had deviated from the true teachings of Islam.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Muslim voters made full use of the opportunity and the power of the ballot box to replace the old leaders with new ones from Pakatan Harapan.
“We noted that the deviation from the teachings of Islam was very obvious,” he said, referring to leaders from the previous government.
“It was the duty of the ummah to reject such leaders. And that was what they did in GE14. Prior to the election, they had to tolerate Muslim leaders who were not very Muslim simply because they (the leaders) would not get punished.
“However, when the opportunity came to overthrow such Muslim leaders, they (the ummah) took it and were quite brave at it.”
Dr Mahathir said this during a question-and-answer session after delivering his thematic address at the colloquium on “Demystifying Islamophobia: Towards a Deeper Understanding of Islam” here yesterday.
Present was Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid.
The colloquium was the fourth in a series of eight events by IKIM on a range of issues affecting Malaysia and the Islamic world.
Dr Mahathir said Malaysia’s finances had become very weak in the run up to GE14.
“This is because money was stolen. We (the current government) are working hard to bring back the money as well as rebuild the administration.”
Dr Mahathir said unlike many countries in the world, Malaysia was progressing and remained stable despite a change in administration.
“If you care to make a comparison, in many countries, when the incumbent government is overthrown, there will always be a lot of instability.
“There will be riots, demonstrations, strikes and even violence taking place. In some countries, it can even lead to civil war.
“Here in Malaysia, we are lucky.
When we overthrew the not-soIslamic leaders, the country was able to see a new government taking over without the use of violence.”
He reiterated that the PH government would spare no effort to correct all wrongs committed by the previous administration.
“We are trying our best to correct all the un-Islamic things that were done before.
“Of course, we are not perfect. You (the people) can see it. And you can also criticise us so that we will stay on the right path.
“This is because we feel it is our duty to bring back the country to the true teachings of Islam, as well as to have good governance where justice is upheld all the time and the people’s welfare is of great importance to the government.
“We would like to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. We would like to correct all that, but it will take time.”