PUTRAJAYA, Jan 3 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad labelled PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang a traitor and kafir (infidel) today over the latter’s decision for his party to contest 130 Parliamentary seats in the next general election.
The Pakatan Harapan chairman also accused Hadi of aligning PAS with the ruling Umno and previously with DAP, both of which he said the Islamist party president had called infidels.
Speaking at PH’s inaugural weekly “Policy Talk”, Dr Mahathir claimed Hadi has no intention of winning the seats and was only seeking to spoil the contests in favour of Barisan Nasional.
“Hadi knows very well most of the seats he is going to lose, but he will be helping Najib win by splitting the Opposition vote. That is his intention, and that isn’t very Islamic. In Malay we call it pengkhianat (traitor).
“He knows the impact of his actions,” said Dr Mahathir.
Continuing his criticism of Hadi over a speech from the 1980s in which the latter had dubbed Umno a party of infidels, Dr Mahathir recalled that the PAS president had said then that those who associated with Umno would also become infidels.
“Of the 130 seats, they will lose all but they will be helping their good friend, formerly the kafirs from Umno. According to PAS if you work with kafir, you will become a kafir, and he (Hadi) is going to help this (Umno) kafir.
“At one time, they (PAS) also worked with kafir. This makes him (Hadi) a kafir himself,” said Dr Mahathir, in reference to the secular DAP.
He then pointed out that historically, PAS only won a few seats when contesting on their own, and said the Islamist party only made gains when it partnered with DAP and PKR in the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat.
“Now they are going alone and will lose,” he said.
Hadi was reported as saying in a media report today that PAS will contest in 130 federal seats and was prepared for multi-cornered fights involving its former allies and BN.
