‘Opportunist’ PAS a poor role model for Islamic parties, says Mujahid

PETALING JAYA: Amanah deputy president Mujahid Yusof Rawa today hit out at PAS over its pro-Najib Razak rally on Monday, accusing his former party of being opportunistic and riding the issue for political mileage.

He said PAS’s rhetoric and accusations against the government were a cheap ploy aimed at boosting its support at the risk of threatening national stability.

He also claimed that the party used certain Islamic principles according to its political whims and fancies to create polemics against the unity government and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

“PAS used the Najib rally and house arrest addendum issue to cover up its weaknesses when its leaders were among Najib’s strongest critics when the 1MDB issue first surfaced.

“Although the inspector-general of police ordered for the rally to be cancelled, PAS went ahead with it for the sake of its personal, narrow-minded political goals and interests.

“Therefore, PAS does not deserve to be a role model as a party that champions Islam or the Malays. PAS is merely an opportunistic party that does not have true Islamic values and principles,” Mujahid, a former Islamic affairs minister, said in a statement.

The senator said Malaysians needed to know PAS’s true character so that they would not be swayed by its “political drama and games which change according to the seasons”.

PAS held a rally in solidarity with Najib outside the Palace of Justice on Monday, ahead of a court decision related to his house arrest addendum.

The rally was attended by over 3,000 people, including several Najib supporters from Umno and a number of senior PAS and Bersatu leaders, among them opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin and PAS vice-president Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

Some had questioned PAS and Bersatu’s intentions, including Umno leader Ghulam Muzaffar Gulam Mustakim who said that the parties did not really care about Najib.

On Wednesday, meanwhile, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu mocked PAS over its rally and apparent support for Najib, saying it was just another one of its flip-flopping “political fatwas”.

Mohamad, who was with PAS for 37 years and held the position of deputy president at one point, said PAS could abandon Najib if he became politically irrelevant and no longer benefitted the party.