PETALING JAYA: Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul (pix) has little credibility to speak on the concerns of the people, Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan (Patriot) said today.
The mufti has lost credibility for not speaking up strongly enough against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and the top officials of the previous administration when the mega scandals had disgraced our nation.
“A mufti as head of the Islamic religion in the state must also propagate unity among all races from different religions,” Patriot president Brig-Gen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji said in a statement.
“Every religion advocates understanding, tolerance and respect each other’s belief. The issue of the arrest of independent preacher Muhammad Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu for allegedly insulting Hinduism, which Mohd Asri seemed to have protested, is an isolated issue.
“Let the investigation runs its course. Patriot would like to reiterate that no one, no preacher, whatever the religious denomination, should make comparison on one’s religion with the others. Doing so would invite animosity that will divide further our society that is at the lowest ebb now.”
Mohamed Arshad urged Mohd Asri to start thinking as a Malaysian for the future of our country to be prosperous, peaceful, and to safeguard our future generations.
“Patriot is baffled by Mohd Asri’s assertion that Muslims are being bullied under the Pakatan Harapan, and telling Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to listen to the ‘reality’ on the ground,” Mohamed Arshad said.
“It all depends on which side of the news the learned mufti chooses to lend his ears to. Surely, he cannot be ignorant of the work by spin masters concocting lies on race, religion and royalties issues, the bullets of last resort; as the opposition parties have nothing on national issues to fault the PH government with.
“Peddlers of fake news are aplenty in the arena of psychological warfare of racial politicking. By listening to uncorroborated grievances of the people then his concerns are misplaced.”
The Patriot president said the prime minister and his Cabinet’s main concern is the economy. Putting right the economy which has been raped with successive scandals by the previous administration will go a long way to help the people, the majority of which comprise the Malay poor,” he said.
“The government allocated RM6.3 billion to rescue Felda, and another RM17.8 billion on a restructuring plan for Lembaga Tabung Haji. These bailouts of RM 24billion to solve problems created by the past administration are huge amount, and the non-Malays are not protesting.
“BN-era infrastructure contracts given to Malays/Umno cronies are allowed by the Finance Ministry to continue after renegotiation, saving a meager sum of RM806 million. If these actions of the government are not considered kind towards the people, particularly the Muslims, then what is?” he added.
