KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng called Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang a confused political leader who is scantily informed about political ideologies after the PAS president linked the former’s party to communism.
This morning Abdul Hadi again accused the Pakatan Harapan component member of having ties with international communists because it is a member of the Socialist International (SI), which Lim described as ludicrous.
The DAP chairman said his party is not one of SI’s signatories but is instead a member of the Progressive Alliance, an international movement of social-democratic parties.
The alliance describes itself as a movement to unite the world’s social democratic, progressive and socialist parties fighting for social progress.
“Obviously he (Abdul Hadi) can’t even tell the difference between communism and social democracy,” Lim, a former minister, said in a brief response to the Malay Mail.
“He thinks the Malays can’t think, his thoughts are befuddled so that is why we think he doesn’t deserve to be a leader and why he wasn’t an effective envoy (to the Middle East),” the Bagan MP added.
In a statement issued just a day before Muslims celebrate Aidilfitri, Abdul Hadi again accused the DAP of Islamophobia.
The PAS president suggested that the DAP leaders remain communists at the core and that its alliance with Umno, a Malay nationalist party, is purely political pragmatism meant to mask a plot to undermine Islam.
Most communists reject religion but some are known to oppose atheism.
Abdul Hadi’s allegations appeared to be directed at the spat between a few DAP and Umno leaders. The two parties are now members of the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Lim said Abdul Hadi’s allegation is “obviously” aimed at scaring the country’s ethnic Malays.
He likened the PAS president to Adolf Hitler who adopted the same tactic against resistance by tapping on German Christian insecurity to thwart support for the socialists and communists who fought against the Third Reich.
“What he’s doing is repeating Hitler’s tactic: repeat a lie a thousand times and hope it becomes the truth,” Lim said.
