PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar has chosen to put a positive spin on an Umno claim that PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim is a “traitor to the Malay race”.

Mahfuz omar handing over to idris ahmad pas hq 220609 01 “This shows that Umno is worried, when it sees that people are beginning to lose faith in the government,” he told a press conference today at PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

It has therefore resorted to slandering Anwar , he said, to frighten Malays away from supporting Pakatan Rakyat which comprises PKR, PAS and DAP.

Mahfuz, also the Pokok Sena MP, said he would welcome a debate with deputy premier and deputy Umno president Muhyiddin Yassin who had labelled Anwar a ‘traitor’.

“Umno is afraid of enlightened Malays who are now experiencing a ‘crisis of faith’ over the government,” claimed Mahfuz.

He cited statistics from media reports on the anti-ISA rally of Aug 1 which indicated that ‘95 percent of the demonstrators are Malays, 75 percent are youth’.

“This shows how the people - Malays and youth especially - are beginning to turn their back on the government,” he said.

Mahfuz further posed the question ‘who is the real traitor?’ in relation to 52 years of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) rule.

He claimed that, in this time, the size of Malay reserve land has shrunk by 44 percent especially in Johor, while Malay equity has been reduced to RM2 billion, from RM52 billion (1981-2006).

hadi awang pas 160304 Asked about the PAS candidate for the upcoming Permatang Pasir by-election in Penang, he said party president Abdul Hadi Awang would announce the candidate on Aug 14.

Mahfuz, who has been appointed election director, is confident of a win but expects a reduced majority due to “vote buying activities by BN”.

Nominations will be filed on Aug 17 for the by-election , to be held on Aug 25. The state seat was vacated by the death of three-term PAS representative Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman's death last month.

‘Tackle pandemic jointly’

Mahfuz also took the opportunity to address developments with which PAS is dissatisfied, including the government’s “lacklustre response to the (A)H1N1 pandemic” which has caused 32 deaths to date in Malaysia.

He proposed a “special session of Parliament to discuss the issue... where everyone in BN and Pakatan can work together” to solve the problem.

swine flu h1n1 flu pandemic 180509 02 “A serious issue like this must not be politicised,” he said, in reference to Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar’s announcement that the Agriculture Development Council in each parliamentary district would not include Pakatan representatives.

Mahfuz proposed a joint task force at the parliamentary district level to combat the deadly virus with the help of party mechanisms.

He also proposed more stringent enforcement over the sugar retail trade, and that a government body be created to import sugar to break the monopoly of ‘sugar kings’.

Failing this, he added, more licences should be issued for sugar traders so that there is a more competitive environment.