PETALING JAYA: PAS central committee member Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz (pix) has said he didn’t tell the truth about a voice recording allegedly proving that the Islamist party had accepted funds from its former political rival, Umno.
“It’s not a matter of lying or not but of wanting to protect the integrity of a member (of the PAS central committee),” Nik Abduh was quoted by The Malaysian Insight as saying.
He said his denial of being one of the voices featured in the incriminating clip was similar to a minister having to lie about secret issues discussed in Cabinet meetings.
He said in such a situation a minister would likely feign ignorance “because it is still a secret, doesn’t need to be made public”.
“It’s the same with a government officer in a Cabinet meeting,” he said. “A journalist finds out, asks the minister. Of course, the minister is not going to answer (the truth).”
“So is the act of keeping it a secret wrong? It’s not,” said the Bachok MP.
According to the news portal, Nik Abduh said while Islam forbids lying, there were exceptions to the rule.
“There is room in Islam to lie. It’s the same with envy which is a sin, but it’s not any more if our sense of envy towards the rich becomes a motivation for us to become rich,” he was quoted as saying.
PAS has on Friday confirmed that the audio recording of a person commenting on the issue of PAS receiving funds from Umno was that of Nik Abduh.
Sarawak Report (SR) editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has said on May 20 she has obtained more evidence to prove PAS had received money, amounting to some RM90 million, from Umno in 2016.
