KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang was the very reason why his party was not making headway outside of Malay-Muslim constituencies, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today.

Responding to Hadi’s challenge for the Non-Muslim PAS Supporters Congress (DHPP) to emulate DAP in breaking down racial barriers of electoral constituencies, Lim said the movement was ineffectual as its leaders lacked the courage to stand up to the PAS president.

"Hadi is behind time and continues to spout irrational, extremist and even racist views.

"He does not realise that Islam does not differentiate among the races, religions, cultures or nationalities on the question of corruption,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said in a statement today.

Lim again challenged Hadi, who is the prime minister’s special envoy to the Middle East, to deny if he was banned from visiting Saudi Arabia and possibly other countries in the region.

"Wouldn’t a self-respecting political leader resign his appointment under these circumstances or is he more attracted to the emoluments and perks of the appointment without having to do any work?” Lim asked.

On August 20, Abdul Hadi accused non-Muslims and non-Bumiputera of being the "roots of corruption” in the country on his Facebook page.

This led to dozens of police reports being lodged against him, which has resulted in an ongoing investigation against him under Section 505(C) of the Penal Code for issuing statements likely to incite the community and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for improper use of network facilities or network services.

Lim previously questioned if Abdul Hadi had been barred from Saudi Arabia last year following the latter’s absence from the entourage during then-prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s visit to the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

While Saudi Arabia has not made any announcement specifically about Hadi, the kingdom along with several other Arab countries previously listed the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) group as a terrorist organisation.

Hadi is a vice-president of the IUMS and an active contributor to the group’s discourse.