Utusan Malaysia ’s columnist Awang Selamat responded today to PAS’ decision to ban the Umno-owned newspaper by accusing its spiritual leader of hypocrisy and of deviating even further from Islam than ‘Sky Kingdom’ leader Ayah Pin.

pas muktamar 130610 nik abdul aziz nik mat 1 In the newspaper’s Sunday Mingguan Malaysia edition, Awang spewed vitriol against the Islamist party’s mursyidul am Nik Aziz Nik Mat ( left ) and - in the wake of accusations that its cartoons had “insulted Islam” - asked whether it was not the Kelantan menteri besar who has a history of committing sacrilege against the religion.

“It looks like Nik Aziz is following the footstops of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guang Eng in boycotting Utusan Malaysia,” said the Malay-language daily.

On Friday, PAS launched a boycott of the newspaper and demanded that it issue an official apology or withdraw the offending cartoon.

The cartoon in question - which appeared on June 15 - was criticised for allegedly disparaging Islamic teachings on sexual crimes after a rape victim’s video evidence is rejected by a religious cleric as not fulfilling the syaria requirement of four witnesses.

utusan malaysia 15062011 cartoon hina islam The victim only receives a sympathetic ear by a police officer, who tells her that video evidence is sufficient for an investigation into her allegation.

It was announced yesterday that the Kelantan-led PAS government, in response to the cartoon, had banned Utusan from covering functions involve the MB and the state legislative assembly sitting with immediate effect.

Hitting back today, Awang said Nik Aziz’s response to the matter was not surprising, given similar decisions to boycott Utusan by PAS’ Pakatan partner PKR.

"The strategy of boycotting media as a weapon and threat is dinosaur-age thinking," said Awang.

NONE "Press freedom and freedom of expression as pledged by DAP, PKR and PAS in their general election manifesto, is merely a gimmick," Awang added.

The columnist expressed surprise, however, with the Islamist party’s reaction to the cartoon given the intended target of its cynicism was not the religion per se but PAS itself.

“It (the cartoon) was only taking a jibe at PAS leaders for their confusing remarks over the sex video of Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim,” said Utusan in relation to a video clip that Umno leaders had alleged depicted the PKR de facto leader.  

Anwar has denied being the man in the video, and has lodged a police report over the matter.

Utusan had earlier reported Nik Aziz’ fellow-leader, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, as saying during the party’s recent annual convention that evidence in the form of a video clip cannot be accepted in accusations of adultery.

“A video cannot be a witness (to adultery) because the video camera is merely a metal object. It doesn’t have eyes nor ears,” said Hadi, whose words were cited by the religious cleric in the June 15 cartoon.

Awang said it was hypocritical of Nik Aziz to cry foul of the Utusan cartoon for allegedly insulting Islam when he had been quiet over the cartoons of PKR activist ‘Zunar’ which are “clearly insulting of Islam”.

“The bigger question is, who really has insulted Islam?” asked Awang, who proceeded to list out the alleged incidences wherein Nik Aziz had committed sacrilege and humiliated the religion.

These include, said Awang, Nik Aziz’s support for the use of the term ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims, his claim that God uses bad words in the Quran, promising Heaven to those who vote for PAS leaders, declaring Umno members as disbelievers, banning beautiful women from working, “and many other (remarks) that go against the true teachings of Islam”.

ayah pin inter-faith 260105 inside rumah bulat “This is not to mention his (Nik Aziz’s) stand of rejecting collaboration between Islamic parties but exalting (PAS’ partnership with) DAP, which is against the set up of an Islamic state.

“There has been much more confusion (about Islam) triggered by Nik Aziz than anybody else, including Ayah Pin ( left ), who is being hunted by the authorities,” said Awang in reference to the leader of the deviant ‘Sky Kingdom’ sect Ariffin Mohamad.

“Who is the one portraying Islam as unchangeable as a cartoon?” he asked further.