Political secretary Senator Wan Farid Wan Salleh lashed out at PAS for having being labelled as the 'hidden hand' behind the rioting in Kuala Terengganu early last month.

Accused by PAS as being the mastermind of the Pantai Batu Buruk incident, which resulted in seven men being injured including four police officers, the Umno politician issued a testy denial in an interview with Malaysiakini on Wednesday.

"Am I going to dignify rubbish by responding to it?" replied Wan Farid when questioned on his role in the rioting, in which two PAS members also suffered gunshot wounds.

PAS had blamed police agent provocateurs for the heavy police action and said Umno had pre-planned the incident. PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had also alluded of Umno's involvement in the riot.

For a week after the Pantai Batu Buruk incident, Wan Farid had been accused by PAS of being responsible for the rioting by directly influencing the decision making of state police officials.

Wan Farid, a political secretary to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his Internal Security Ministry portfolio, has been widely described as a close confidant of Umno deputy youth chief and Abdullah's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin.

Having being appointed senator last year, Wan Farid is said to be one of the contenders for the Menteri Besar's post of Terengganu.

However, during the interview, Wan Farid, who read law in the United Kingdom, played down his perceived influence and attacked PAS for making accusations without evidence.

"If I were to deny, they'd say it's a denial. You see when you say something about somebody, you make an allegation against somebody, you expect him to respond to that allegation.

"I can respond to this. I can offer an alibi. But on this kind of allegation, I would not stoop so low as to respond to it. I have never taken Mustafa Ali seriously anyway," he said.

Only senior Umno man present

In a press conference held two days after the rioting, PAS Terengganu commissioner Mustafa Ali said a political secretary was involved in directing the police not to approve the permit, adding that he has evidence to back his claim.

Wan was the only senior Umno politician who was in the vicinity of Pantai Batu Buruk during the rioting.

The opposition party alleged Wan Farid had met with and directed police officials to ensure that the ceramah is not attended that if met with resistance to enact heavy policing action.

Wan Farid who is also Umno Kuala Terengganu division chief was still visibly upset whenever the topic cropped up.

"It is so shallow to think in that manner, to say that because I was in a eatery at that time, therefore I was involved in the planning," he said, adding that he had just chaired an Umno branch meeting that night in nearby Ladang.

"If you say to people that because I was at a eatery three kilometres from the incident is proof that I planned it all, I think on the basis of a reasonable capacity to think and reason, that is just very shallow," he said.

He also denied allegations by PAS that he directed the police to deny ceramah organisers (Coalition for Free and Fair Elections) Bersih its application for a public gathering permit days before the ceramah was to be held.

He said that despite his post in the Internal Security Ministry, he has no authority to influence the procedures of the Terengganu police.

"It is wrong to interfere because the police have their own criteria on how a permit is approved. I don't know the criteria. For me to get involved, with PDRM (the police), it is something that is not logical.

"It is something that couldn't be done, because they have their own criteria whether a permit is made," he said.

Selective memory

PAS politicians had also claimed that Wan Farid had met police personnel earlier that day, where Wan Farid officiated a police open day ceremony at a police residential unit some 5 km away from the incident.

Wan Farid pointed out that he was not in Kuala Terengganu at the end of August when the permits were being applied.

"I was not even in Kuala Terengganu when the permit was applied, when it was turned down. I didn't know, I wasn't there," he said. During that period, he said he was on a working trip to Sarawak.

He further accused the opposition party of having a "selective memory."

"It's hard for me to respond to allegations where there is no basis for the allegations. Even if I deny, they would take it as a denial. Because PAS has selective memory. They can remember things they want to remember. They forget things they want to forget," he said.

Umno had described PAS members as unruly and the root cause for the RM1 million in property damages in the normally placid city of Kuala Terengganu as a result of the riot.

Following the riot, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) led a fact-finding mission to Kuala Terengganu, interviewing police officials, opposition members, injured policemen and one of the gunshot victims.

The commission is expected to decide whether it would hold a public inquiry on the matter by Monday.

PART 2 on Monday : On becoming MB, Umno's hold on Terengganu and his 'special ties' with Khairy Jamaluddin