Conservative Muslim party PAS has shot down Malay rights pressure group Perkasa's call for a jihad or holy war against Christians if allegations of a conspiracy to usurp Islam's official status are true.

PAS central committee member Husam Musa said Perkasa does not practise true Islam and was thus not qualified to speak about jihad.

pas muktamar 55 husam musa 050609 "Perkasa has political motives that clearly defend certain evils," he said, adding that the Malay rights NGO keeps quiet on corruption, loss of rule of law, social problems, muddled policies and the failures of Umno and BN.

"Moreover, by using only racial or religious issues for one-sided political reasons, it shows that Perkasa does not follow true Islamic teachings and is not qualified to talk about jihad, which must be clean and pure.

"For example, where was Perkasa when the MCA, Umno's main ally in BN, came to Kelantan to lobby against the ban on betting outlets to Kelantanese, who are 95 percent Muslims?" Husam ( above ) asked in a statement today.

He was commenting on Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali's speech on Saturday, in which Ibrahim issued the warning to the Christian community, based on the May 7 Utusan Malaysia report of a conspiracy in play to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia.

'Don't abuse the term jihad'

Utusan said on its front page that the DAP and Christian groups were involved in the plot and that the two parties also wanted to install a Christian as prime minister. Both DAP and Christian groups have denied the claim.

Speaking at a Komuniti 1Malaysia group event in Gombak, Ibrahim warned of bloodshed if the plot was found to be true.

"If they want a crusade, so be it. If they say that the peace that we enjoy is not good enough... we shall take up the challenge. Don't take the silence of Muslims as a sign of fear.

"Before our followers fall in this battle, (Perkasa) leaders will first lay down their lives and die sprawling in blood," Ibrahim said, and later mentioned the need for jihad .

Quoting a verse from the Quran, Husam said if Perkasa was truly keen about strengthening the position of Islam, it should promote good government policies as outlined by the religion and not use inflammatory words.

"I advise (Ibrahim) not to abuse the word jihad, especially when it involves Machiavellian politics to maintain the power of Umno and BN, when the concept of jihad is supposed to be pure and clean," he said.

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