PBB man shoots back at PAS ulama chief

June 2, 2016

Abdul Karim Hamzah says Mahfodz needs to widen his knowledge of Islam.

PETALING JAYA: Sarawak’s Assistant Minister of Housing, Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah has denounced PAS Ulama Council Chairman Mahfodz Mohamed for issuing what he called an “unIslamic” statement that belittled Sarawak Muslims.

The PBB strongman told FMT that Mahfodz needed to widen his knowledge of Islam. He was reacting to a news report in which Mahfodz was quoted as saying that Sarawak Muslims were not practising the true Islamic way of life.

Karim said it was wrong for Mahfodz to say that Sarawak Muslims were ignorant just because they did not support PAS.

He accused PAS of holding to a false interpretation of Islam, recalling that the party once attached the “infidel” label to Malays who supported Umno.

“Mahfodz himself is not guaranteed a place in heaven,” he said. “Yet he has accused his fellow Muslims of not living an Islamic way of life.”

Karim said Sarawak probably had the most organised bait ul-mal (Islamic treasury) and mosque management in the country.

“We don’t need PAS to tell Sarawak Muslims how to do things,” he said. “We just want to tell the party that God despises those who want to create disunity in the Muslim community.”

It is just a matter of time PR will collapse

 June 5, 2015

SIBU: Only BN can ensure stability, continuity and harmony of the nation as the opposition pact is constantly at loggerheads, said Assistant Minister of Youth Development Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

It would just be a matter of time before Pakatan Rakyat collapsed, he said when asked to comment on the move by PAS Dewan Ulama on Wednesday to unanimously pass an emergency motion to annul political cooperation (tahaluf siyasi) and to cut ties with the DAP.

Pahang PAS Dewan Ulama chief Mokhtar Senik, who tabled the motion, reportedly said the move was necessary as PAS’s political ally, the DAP, had officially cut ties with the PAS president.

Mokhtar also reportedly said Pakatan Rakyat was dissolved in Sarawak and Sabah due to pressure from the DAP, who not only disagreed and opposed, but lobbied PAS members to reject efforts to enhance the Kelantan Syriah Criminal Code enacted in 1993.

To this, Abdul Karim, who is also PBB Supreme Council member, said: “I see this moment coming from the day Pakatan Rakyat or PR was formed.

“PR was just a ‘marriage of convenience’ to appease the leaders of the three parties, which differ totally in their political struggles.

“It is just a matter of time this union collapses, and we can see it coming now.