Saying that is the ‘Perak ploy’ all over again, PAS parliamentarian Khalid Samad has come out in defence of the party’s spiritual leader, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who has come under fire for allegedly going against the Sultan of Selangor.

NONE Nik Aziz ( left ) has been accused of defying the Sultan of Selangor’s decree by giving a political speech in a Hulu Selangor mosque during the recent by-election campaign there.

"I agree with the Sultan’s decree but what (Nik Aziz) spoke of in his speech at one mosque was of the general principles of politics and not partisan politics. He never said it is wajib (compulsory) or haram (forbidden) to vote for any candidate," said Khalid at a press conference today.

He said Nik Aziz’s speech was actually a tazkirah (reminder) and furthermore, it was an impromptu speech which was delivered upon the request of the mosque’s imam .

Khalid, who is Shah Alam MP, turned the tables on the critics saying that it was actually Umno who had been using mosques for the purpose of partisan politics.

As proof, he produced the photo of a banner showing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and BN Hulu Selangor’s victorious candidate P Kamalanathan.

NONE The banner ( right) reads: Majlis pembacaan Yassin dan sembahyang hajat untuk calon BN (Prayers for the BN candidate) with the venue being the Kuala Kubu Bharu’s Masjid Jame’ ar-Rahimah.

"The people at fault are actually BN, and I am concerned that this sort of information (the banner) has not been passed on to the sultan," he said.

Khalid said the controversy over Nik Aziz’s speech appears to be part of a ploy to portray opposition parties as being disrespectful to the sultan ‘following the script of Perak’.

Kickdefella’s claims dismissed

On a another matter, the parliamentarian brushed off the allegations of blogger Syed Azidi Syed Aziz who accused PAS of paying him RM4 million to ‘topple’ former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

djz english teaching conference 080707 khalid samad He said that the cash was contributed by five individuals and not by any state government and that Syed Azidi’s accusations were vague at best.

"This is the agenda of Umno-BN who are working hand-in-glove with the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) to create cases (against the opposition) as they did against the Perak Pakatan Rakyat assemblypersons but who have now been cleared of any wrongdoing as they have crossed over to BN.

"Pak Lah did not fall because of PAS but because of his own weaknesses and also because of Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) who was his harshest attacker," said Khalid ( above ).