Hannah Yeoh begs to differ with PAS man’s claim Islamist party doesn’t treat non-Muslims as second-class citizens
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 — Non-Muslims are definitely worried about a PAS menteri besar in Selangor, says DAP’s Hannah Yeoh due to the extremist tone of PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang’s speeches.
The youth and sports minister said Selangor is a multi-racial and multi-cultural state and despite PAS’ attempts to claim it is a party that’s inclusive of all races, their top brass keep bringing up racial division and disharmony in their speeches.
Yeoh was speaking in an online forum organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) attended by PAS Youth Exco Nazrul Nazir, Bersih chairman Thomas Fann and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) S. Arutchelvan on the narrative being used during the campaigning for the state elections where most of the topics seemed to centre on the unity government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The latter’s failures and policies seemed to be brought up by the Opposition at every given opportunity even though the outcome of the state election will have no bearing on the fortunes of the federal government.
Nazrul, who attended the forum for the absent Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari, was asked by a member of the public if PAS was inclusive of other races or was it just an act, to which he said it was just rumours.
He said PAS had long been friendly with other races and the image of them being only for Malays was one that was espoused by others.
When asked about Penang PAS members’ treatment of Gerakan president Dominic Lau, he said it was an isolated incident and didn’t reflect the party as a whole.
He said Lau being banned from joining PAS members on stage during a ceramah was a one-off and a misunderstanding which should not mean the party treated non-Malays as second-class citizens.
“We did not deny him (Lau) and saying that he was treated like a second-class citizen is wrong.
“There was a conflict and they settled it. It was not because of his race. In fact, we have many candidates in Penang and Negeri Sembilan who are non-Malays,” he said.
Yeoh, who is the Segambut MP, then said this was not true and urged Nazrul to listen to his leader’s speeches.
“If you want to know why people call PAS an extremist party, then you need to listen to your leader’s speeches. There are lots of comments he’s made that will and have scared the non-Malays.
“It’s in all the papers. It’s been reported. When Nik Aziz was the leader of PAS, people weren’t so scared, but lately, under the current leadership, non-Muslims are scared.
“That’s why my comments the other day on Selangorians needing to be worried about a PAS menteri besar stemmed from this. People in Selangor are multi-racial and would likely choose someone from another party,” she said.
