KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu reportedly threw his “kopiah”, or skullcap, in anger as he related the sacrifices of former PAS leaders while its current leadership were allegedly receiving funds from rival Umno.
In several media reports, the former PAS deputy president known as Mat Sabu was worried about how the accusation would hurt the image of Islam, accusing the Islamist party of being a “party of lies” for their leaders’ previous denials over the issue.
“It is proven that PAS is a party of lies because they themselves have admitted the audio recording,” the president of splinter Parti Amanah Negara was quoted saying by Berita Harian in a party event in Pasir Mas, Kelantan.
Last week, PAS finally admitted that an audio recording in which its leader Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz was said to have confessed that the party received money from Umno.
Nik Abduh said he had previously denied the recording’s authenticity with blessings from PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang — but the latter then denied even listening to the recording.
“I don’t know how far the discussion between Dr Mahathir and PAS went, but everything [PAS] said today were lies,” Mohamad added, referring to a recent meeting between Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Hadi where PAS announced its support of the former.
“For them lying is compulsory, and I am confident that after this PAS members will lose confidence in their party because they have leaders who like to lie.”
In a report by Malaysiakini, Mohamad was quoted saying activists such as himself has been detained, only for other leaders to undertake backdoor deals with Umno instead.
“We spoke at ceramah everywhere, sat in lock up — all to build the party, but they were taking money [from Umno] in the dark.
“If an Islamic party does this, we are worried that it will hurt the image of the religion,” he said in the same event, while hurling his “kopiah” on a table.
The move echoed a move of his in a previously viral video of his ceramah, that is usually theatrical in nature. He has been showed hurling his cap in anger at Umno’s Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and also a microphone.
But the skullcap is also the symbol of the so-called religious conservative faction in PAS who was implicated in receiving the funds, and was opposed to the more progressive faction led by Mohamad who mostly left PAS after they were purged in 2015 to later form Amanah.
