The response by Selangor PAS begs the question whether its President, Hadi Awang, respects all cultures, faiths, and traditions of other races and supports the study of all civilisations and not just Islamic civilisation in schools

In response to an Amanah memorandum to Selangor Ruler for a probe against PAS President, Hadi Awang for religious extremism, the Selangor PAS yesterday claimed it was against religious and racial extremism, and that it respects all cultures, faiths, and traditions of other races.

This begs the question, as the real issue is whether Hadi respects all cultures, faiths, and traditions of other races, and supports the study of all civilisations, and not just Islamic civilisation in schools.

DAP does not regard all PAS leaders and members as extremist as Hadi, and that is why the DAP leader and Minister for Youth and Sports, Hannah Yeoh, paid tribute to former Selangor PAS commissioner, the late Dr. Abdul Rani Osman for being a “dear friend” and “a good servant of God” (“hamba Allah yang baik”).

DAP leaders have also high regard and respect for previous PAS leaders like Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Fadzil Noor, and Yusuf Rawa for they respect the multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural characteristics of Malaysia.

Nik Aziz, Fadzil Noor, and Yusuf Rawa do not accuse the DAP of promoting Islamophobia like Hadi Awang.

But after making the preposterous allegation that DAP was promoting Islamophobia, although the DAP is a member party of the Federal government and six state governments, Hadi has not been able to present an iota of evidence in the last two months to substantiate his preposterous allegation that the DAP is promoting Islamophobia.

Can Hadi state when the DAP started promoting Islamophobia?

Was it in 1977 when the DAP helped PAS in Parliament when the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition tried to oust the party from ruling Kelantan during the 1977 Kelantan Emergency, which Hadi recounted in the Teluk Intan by-election in May 2014?

Or was it during the seven years in Pakatan Rakyat from 2008 to 2015 when DAP refused to support PAS proposal to drop and change the Pakatan Rakyat Prime Minister-designate, Anwar Ibrahim, and to suggest Hadi as Prime Minister-designate?

Has Hadi ever submitted a report to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Islamophobia Observatory which conducts a global and daily monitoring of Islamophobia, that there is Islamophobia in Malaysia, and if not, why not?

Is Hadi aware that the allegation of promoting Islamophobia is a serious one and should not be lightly made, and that if one is incapable of substantiating the serious allegation, one must be humble enough to withdraw and apologise for it?

Since his allegation, there has been a clear case of Islamophobia, with the Swedish-Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan burning a copy of the Holy Quran in Stockholm last Sunday.

A week has passed, and why Hadi has he yet to condemn the sacrilegious burning, leaving to his underlings in PAS to condemn the vile act? Can Hadi explain why?

Does be accept the five nation-building principles of Rukun Negara?

Hadi has left open many questions. When is he going to answer them?

And finally, a question to Selangor PAS: does it accept Hadi’s racist—instead of an Islamic position—on corruption, blaming non-Muslims as being at the root of corruption and even stating that giving cash handouts during elections is charity, and not a form of bribery?