Perak PAS has alleged that the BN is using religion in a two-prong strategy to split the Pakatan Rakyat coalition and prove to Malays that it is more Islamic than PAS.

dap cny pasir pinji function 240210 nizar State deputy commissioner Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said this in his speech at a DAP event organised by Pasir Pinji assemblyperson Thomas Su in conjunction with Chinese New Year.

Nizar said BN has tried to court PAS on three occasions but that PAS did not take the bait as it realised that this was tied to an intention to split the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

The first attempt, he said, was the so-called unity plan to unite BN and PAS on a common religious political platform.

Although a few PAS leaders were initially warm to the political strategy, they later withdrew support because of strong opposition from other party members.

The second attempt was over the use of the word 'Allah' by non-Muslims. Umno members had whipped up a public frenzy after the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling last December allowing Catholic weekly Herald to use the word in its Bahasa Malaysia version.

Again PAS did not play to BN’s tune, Nizar noted.

The most recent attempt arose following the caning of three Muslim women found guilty of extramarital sex by the Syariah Court on Feb 9.

Secrecy questioned

Nizar later told Malaysiakini that certain procedures must be followed before a caning sentence is carried out.

He questioned the secrecy and rapid execution of the sentence on the three women when a similar sentence has been delayed for several months in the case of part-time model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor.

NONE Kartika was found guilty by a Syariah Court for consuming alcohol in public place and was sentenced to whipping. This was put on hold after strong protests by the public.

“BN’s three attempts touching on religion were to force PAS to split from (its allies) DAP and PKR and to see the collapse of Pakatan Rakyat,” said Nizar.

“However, PAS leaders were wise and did not fall into BN’s political trap.”

He claimed that BN is not getting the support of non-Malays, especially the Chinese community, and is therefore turning to religion to cling on to power in the next general election.

“BN is politically desperate to get the votes of Malays for the next general election by harping on religion to show that it is more Islamic than PAS,” he added.

Zambry accused of hypocrisy