Perak Mufti betrayed his profession

PKR has accused Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria of failing to be true to his profession, saying that he was more of a politician than a cleric.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said the religious scholar’s credibility and piety was questionable, claiming he had failed to show respect towards his own knowledge on Islam.

“Where was the voice of this mufti when (PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri) Anwar (Ibrahim) was attacked with false and defamatory allegations? Why did he not do justice to the knowledge that he had learned as a religious scholar?” the Machang MP said during a ceramah at Kampung Linggi here last night.

Saifuddin was attacking Harussani for allegedly playing politics when he went on a crusade on behalf of Umno to court PAS and claimed he had played the role of mediator in unity talks between the two parties.

“He can talk now but where was he when Anwar was wrongfully accused of ‘zina’ (wrongful sex act). Does he not know that in the Quran, a Muslim should reject any act of defaming or accusing a fellow Muslim brother of committing ‘zina’ without producing four witnesses who had seen this act being carried out with their own eyes.

“I am sure the mufti knows of this law but where was he when this accusation was made against Anwar?” Saifuddin said.

He further slammed Harussani for betraying his own professional integrity when he failed to speak out against the many “corrupt” practices by Umno and the Barisan Nasional.

“He (Harussani) was then a datuk and now he is a tan sri. So when Umno’s commits corruption, when there is obvious mismanagement of the country, when the nation’s riches are squandered away to fill the bellies of our politicians, where was his voice? It was not there,” he said.

Saifuddin said the government-appointed cleric had only decided to speak up during a time of crisis for Umno, indicating his subservience to the ruling coalition.

“When the people reject Umno, it is this time that he starts to say – come, Umno and PAS, sit together and discuss unity. It is only now that he makes some sound,” he said.

He claimed that the sudden rekindling of the Umno-PAS issue was not a surprise and was proof of Umno’s insincerity and desperation.

“The sudden offer made by Umno to PAS is no surprise. They are courting PAS now, on the pretext that this union would be for the good of the Malays and for Islam.

“They are trying to give the impression that since Islam is a religion that champions unity and peace, they were willing to put the past behind and unite with the enemy.

“They claim that if they failed to do this, if Umno and PAS do not unite, there would be political insecurity... the power of Malay politics would be threatened and there would be no future for the Malay race and Islam,” Saifuddin said.

He explained that this sudden offer of unity was only made because Umno knew it had lost the support of the Malay community and was willing to unite with PAS to strengthen itself.

“If we observe our country’s political history, we will notice this trend. This unity issue only gets raised when Umno feels its political support is at its weakest.

“If Umno feels its position is strong, it would not even blink an eye at PAS or any other Malay parties,” he said.

Saifuddin pointed out that Umno first courted PAS following the 1969 general election when the then Umno and the Alliance coalition had suffered significant losses.

“In Selangor, Perikatan and Umno won 20 while the opposition won 20 seats too. They could not appoint a mentri besar. In Perak, the opposition won more seats than Perikatan. But since at the time, the opposition did not have the cooperation like we have in Pakatan Rakyat today, they could not form government.

“But this was when Umno spoke of unity to PAS, leading to PAS’ union with Perikatan (Alliance), which later became the Barisan Nasional,” he said.

Saifuddin said however that when Umno regained its power over the years, it booted out PAS and ignored the Islamist party’s pleas to hold talks for the good of the race, religion and the country.

“But Umno said no. They said, why should we speak with you? We are strong. We are the government and the government can do no wrong. We know what is best for the people,” Saifuddin said.

He claimed that PAS had joined the BN in all sincerity, thinking it was the best option for the sake of Islamic unity but had been left sorely disappointed.

“See how insincere they were. That is why we are confident that this round, the people have reached a realisation and are ready to give a chance to the PR,” he said.

The Umno-PAS unity talks issue was raised again recently when Harussani made claims that he had met with leaders from both parties who were seeking his views on ways to unite the two rivals.

His statement was, however, dismissed by PAS vice-presidents Datuk Mahfuz Omar and Salahuddin Ayub who said that the Islamic party had never asked Harussani to act as mediator. They even challenged Harussani to name the leaders but the cleric refused to do so.

Selangor state executive councillor Datuk Hasan Ali yesterday cleared the air and admitted to meeting with Harussani two months back but stressed that it had nothing to do with Umno-PAS unity.

In response, Harussani confirmed the meeting today and admitted that the meeting did not touch on political cooperation between the two opposing parties but had centred on Malay unity.



comments


Pls la UMNO..the people have this question for you:
Before 2008 how many times you guys ask PAS for discussion on Malay unity..in 2004 why dont you guys ask PAS to unite for Malay unity??? If you guys so concern about Malay unity then why dont UMNO pay oil royalty to Kelantan? and yeah how about Malay in PKR and DAP..dont you guys want us to unite with UMNO also??


Like Proton, now weak and going bankrupt is seeking for mergers to survive like a leech living off others. Same same scenario with UMNO. Come on, if PAS is strong why want to merge,esp with an evil and insncere UMNO who is on the verge of collapse.

PAS should take a close eye on Hassan Ali . Don,t be surprise that there are several "musuh dalam selimut " inside PAS working for UMNO interest.

Daylight become religious Come night and dark become HANTU betraying his won profession using God sacred name !!!