The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party’s publicity secretary Tony Pua also accused the MCA of being “as silent as a mouse” when it came to Umno’s race and religious baiting while claiming that PAS leaders had defended the rights of non-Muslims in recent years.
Pua’s remarks today in defending PAS’s moderation come even as the Islamist party continued to come under attack from the MCA for its Islamic state agenda.
The MCA’s campaign to win over the significant Chinese votes for BN for this Sunday’s Tenang state by-election has centred on painting PAS as an extremist party.
PR is fielding PAS’s Normala Sudirman against BN’s Mohd Azahar Ibrahim, who is from Umno.
“MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek and other MCA leaders have gone on a rampage against PAS, arguing that a vote for PAS will mean the end to religious freedom for the non-Muslim community and individual liberties in the country,” said Pua in a statement issued here today.
“Dr Chua has gone to the extent of arguing that while ‘Umno is not perfect, it has corruption’, it is still a better choice than PAS for the latter’s religious principles,” he added.
He said it was Umno that had been abusing Islam to promote extremism and to spread fear among the Malays against the non-Malays.
“Dr Chua has intentionally chosen to turn a blind eye on the fact that Umno’s attempts to curtail non-Muslim rights far exceed anything PAS has to offer,” said Pua.
“Over the past two years, we saw how Umno attempted to monopolise the use of ‘Allah’ for Muslims only and prevent Malay-speaking Christians and Sikhs from using the term for their prayers,” he added.
He also cited the mosque visit by DAP Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching which was heavily criticised by Umno and the cow-head protest in Shah Alam against a Hindu temple which was linked to the Malay party.
“Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein even condemned Teo for having desecrated the mosques and insulted the religion as she was ‘unclean’,” said Pua.
“Umno leaders have also promoted extremism by supporting activities promoting hatred among the various races and religions such as the ‘cow-head protests’ against the construction of a Hindu temple in a Muslim-majority residential area,” he said.
He added that the Umno-led government has also delayed resolving the issue of conversion to Islam by a spouse in a civil marriage.
“MCA has demonstrated its hypocrisy by doing absolutely nothing and remaining absolutely silent like a mouse despite being a partner of Umno in BN,” said Pua.
“In contrast, it has been PAS which was highly vocal in fighting Umno extremism and defending the rights of non-Muslims in Malaysia,” he added.
Pua named PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad, who have been speaking up against Umno’s extremist acts.
“PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang has openly defended non-Muslims’ use of Allah in Parliament, arguing that even the Quran permits and cited such usage.
“It was Tok Guru Nik Aziz who comforted and defended Teo and encouraged her to continue visiting mosques and building bridges between the various communities, arguing that even Prophet Mohamed received non-Muslim visitors in the mosques,” said Pua.
“It was PAS MP for Shah Alam, Khalid Samad, who stood his ground against the Umno-orchestrated onslaught to defend the rights of the Hindus in his community to build their place of worship,” he added.
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