KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 — Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz has brought up his father’s name in his self-defence of denying a controversial audio recording in which he was said to have confessed that the Islamist party had received millions of ringgit from rival Umno.
The Pasir Mas MP was reported saying the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had also done a similar thing in the past in order to protect party secrets.
“It is a matter of secrecy and when we are in a major party, what more an Islamic party, therefore the matter is something that is valid. There is lore regarding this in religion. There are many examples,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.
Nik Abduh gave the example of the “talaq bai’ah”, or the divorce oath among PAS members that was previously a party secret, and was kept by Nik Aziz until the latter’s death.
The “third talaq bai’ah” oath is allegedly a must for Kelantan PAS lawmakers before accepting their posts and requires them to swear to divorce their wives with the “third talaq” the moment they join a new party.
Talaq ― or talak as it is spelled locally ― is a type of divorce in Islam which provides the man with an avenue to initiate a divorce through simply pronouncing the word; if the man pronounces a “third talaq”, he is then prohibited from getting back with his wife again, unless he takes another woman as his wife and then divorces her afterwards before remarrying the first woman.
“When the document [regarding the oath] was leaked, the late Nik Aziz was asked and he categorically denied it.
“It means, it’s up to you if you want to call it a lie, but it was about secrecy. He kept the secret of the oath’s existence, although it was leaked, up until his death.”
Nik Abduh had earlier today admitted that party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was the one who gave his “blessings” for him to deny the audio recording.
Nik Abduh said he had initially wanted to admit the veracity of the recording in which he was said to have confessed that the Islamist party had received millions of ringgit from rival Umno, but realised that it would be used by detractors to destroy PAS.
Yesterday, Nik Abduh finally admitted that he was the person in an audio recording critics claim was proof that the party received money from Umno.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan was quoted as saying that Nik Abduh had confessed to saying the things in the recording, but claimed the conversation about the money in the audio was taken out of context.
The man in the audio recording had purportedly discussed receiving RM2 million from Umno, which Sarawak Report (SR) editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown produced as evidence to back her allegation that PAS took RM90 million from then Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Nik Abduh in April last year denied he was the person in the recording, and claimed the audio was fabricated to tarnish his image.
