No apology to Hadi over claims of ‘betrayal’, DAP man says
(Malay Mail Online) – DAP lawmaker Zairil Khir Johari today denied that he had apologised to Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang over a statement accusing the latter of undermining Pakatan Rakyat (PR), and maintained his position that the opposition pact would be better off without the PAS president.
Zairil clarified that he only acknowledged the fact that he had been mistaken in claiming that his PR colleague had signed a letter authorising PAS to contest against alliance partners PKR in a three-cornered tussle for Labuan in last national polls.
“While I am prepared to admit that the Labuan candidate’s authorisation letter may not have been signed by Hadi, that does not change the fact that Hadi allowed seven three-cornered fights to take place involving Pas candidates against PKR candidates,” Zairil said in a statement.
“In the end, Barisan Nasional won all seven seats,” the Bukit Bendera MP added.
Zairil was responding to a report by English-language daily The Star today, which claimed that he apologised to Hadi over his statement after it was pointed out by Federal Territories PAS commissioner Muhamad Noor Muhamad in a protest letter that the Islamist party’s chief never signed support letters for a PAS candidate to contest the Labuan parliamentary seat.
Zairil also defended his statement issued Sunday, insisting that there would be no future for PR so long as Hadi continues to lead PAS.
He said this was evident from Hadi’s decision to go against the PR presidential council’s collective decision last year to nominate PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as its sole candidate to replace former PKR leader Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor mentri besar, and most recently PAS’ latest push for hudud which includes two parliamentary private member’s bills on the Islamic penal code submitted by Hadi.
“I also never apologised to Hadi, and I stand by my original statement that Hadi’s leadership has seen many acts of betrayal that threaten to derail not only the Pakatan Rakyat coalition but also the hopes and aspirations of the 52 per cent of Malaysians who voted for change in the last General Election,” he said.
DAP and PAS are currently embroiled in a major spat over hudud, after the PAS-led Kelantan state government bulldozed amendments to state shariah laws last week to enable implementation of the Islamic penal code in Kelantan.
The situation was made worse after Hadi submitted the two private member’s bills to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker, seeking to amend the Federal Constitution to allow Kelantan to carry out its hudud plans.
DAP’s central executive committee have since decided at a meeting on Monday to sever ties with Hadi, claiming that it has become untenable to continue dealing with the PAS president despite maintaining cooperation with the Islamist party within the PR framework.
