Controversial author Kassim Ahmad should not blame PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim for the ban on his book because the latter was not influential at the time, said the party’s Selangor deputy youth chief Azmizam Zaman Huri.

“His statement (that Anwar was behind the book ban) falls flat because in 1986, Anwar did not have any power to ban, or at least influence the home minister to ban the book.

“This is clearly an accusation that is made recklessly, full of emotion and grudges from an author who is disappointed that the government had banned his book,” he said in a statement today.

Kassim, who authored Hadis: Satu Penilaian Semula (Hadith: A Re-evaluation ), claimed in an interview with Malaysiakini that Anwar had initially accepted his ideas “in principle”, but later joined religious scholars to suppress it.

In an interview published today, he repeatedly expressed a desire to injure or kill Anwar, whom he said is a “forked-tongue” politician and a slandering “traitor”.

“Selangor PKR Youth sees this as an unwarranted personal attack by Kassim resulting from his own series of failures to obtain public support for his every endeavour,” said Azmizam.

Instead of holding himself accountable, Azmizam accused Kassim of “taking the easy way out” by making Anwar a scapegoat for his own failures.

“Perhaps Kassim also wanted something extra from the government after the Home Ministry’s order on June 20 to review the ban on his controversial book, and used it (the book) as a platform to attack Anwar,” he said.