Mistake led to call for SIS ban

(Bernama) Shah Alam PAS head Khalid Samad yesterday admitted his mistake of overlooking the resolution by the division to ban Sisters in Islam, which has drawn strong reaction from various quarters.

He said the division wanted its representatives to hold discussions and debates with SIS on religious issues and not ask for SIS to be banned or its members to be arrested for rehabilitation of their thinking, adding that he will write to PAS headquarters to explain the situation.

The resolution, which was passed without debate last Sunday, the last day of the PAS 55th muktamar or general assembly, has been roundly criticised by several Pakatan Rakyat leaders, non-governmental organisations and also former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Khalid told a press conference that before the general assembly, he had identified certain unsuitable words in the resolution which were deemed sensitive.

Hence, he said, he asked the Dewan Muslimat or women's wing of Shah Alam PAS to submit the resolution for correction so as to be in tune with contemporary Islamic propagation concept, during a special meeting on April 23 to discuss the division's resolutions to the general assembly.

The resolution on SIS was brought by the women's wing to the division's general meeting on April 19.

Khalid, who is also Shah Alam MP, said he failed to look at the resolution as he and his committee were busy preparing for the party's general assembly and the Penanti state seat by-election.

The resolution brought to the general assembly, urged the assembly "to call on the National Fatwa (Edict) Council to do research on SIS, which is promoting liberal Islam, and to ban the organisation if its views are found to be in conflict with Islamic teachings and to rehabilitate its members".

Khalid said he would write to PAS headquarters soon to explain the situation although he had not been asked by the party to give an explanation, but had been told to handle it as the resolution came from Shah Alam PAS.

Asked whether he had accepted SIS' demand for an apology over the controversial resolution, Khalid said he would need to apologise to the party first for the mistake.

He said he had been contacted by SIS' senior manager Maria Chin Abdullah and  he explained what the Dewan Muslimat actually meant in the resolution, and that Shah Alam PAS wanted its representatives to hold discussions and debates with SIS on religious issues; not for it to be banned.

Khalid said although discourses could be held, ultimately any issue such as the division of property according to faraid ruling must be referred to the main sources of reference in Islam — the Quran and Hadith — so that the views expressed would not be in conflict with Islamic teachings.