Entrepreneur Development Minister Nazri Aziz today accused PAS leaders of being pretentious and defended his action to dance with a ' dangdut ' singer at a fund-raising gala for victims of the Iraq war.

The opposition party's organ Harakah had published a photograph of the minister dancing with the singer Ani Mayuni in its latest edition.

"What's wrong if I dance to raise funds to help victims of the Iraq war. Furthermore, I danced in front of about 1,000 people. I will not give in to PAS' claim and slander," he was quoted as saying in a Bernama report.

In its July 1-15 edition, Harakah featured two photographs of the minister at different functions.

One showed him wearing a skull-cap and debating with PAS over the Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) issue while the other depicted him dancing with the singer.

SAR or public religious schools, became a contentious issue when the government withdrew its funding, claiming that PAS was using these schools to indoctrinate students.

The opposition party has denied this claim and a public exchange of words ensued between leaders from both factions.

'Concoct stories

'

"While it is true the two pictures published by Harakah portrayed my different roles, I'm not pretentious like PAS leaders. They appear to be pious by wearing skull caps and sporting beards, but at the back, they concoct all sorts of stories about others.

"To the extent that they can say God curses. I urge the people not to trust and be cheated by PAS leaders," said the minister.

Harakah had also recently drawn flak from Umno leaders for publishing a cartoon which allegedly compared Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to a pig.

It later apologised despite the cartoonist Zunar claiming that he never intended to compare the premier to the animal.

Certain quarters in the Umno fold called for the organ's publishing permit to be revoked but Mahathir said that no such action would be taken.