How can we clean such filth? Hadi says after Asyraf Wajdi's mock offer to 'purify' Umno and DAP in unity govt

SHAH ALAM, Oct 20 — Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang has today slammed Umno secretary-general Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki's mock invite for PAS to join the federal government coalition in order to “purify” Umno and DAP.

The president of the Islamist party said it would be an impossible task to do, citing how the coalition has allegedly welcomed those linked to graft and other criminal cases.

“You can see who's in the government. How can we clean it up? There are convicts, bribers and the 'court cluster'. How can we follow them?

“If we want to clean filth, we cannot be inside the filth. We would have stayed outside,” he told a press conference after officiating the 69th PAS Muktamar or annual congress at the IDCC Convention Centre here.

In a Facebook post today, Asyraf had sarcastically said that one of the perks of PAS joining the unity government is that the Islamist party and its supporters would not need to issue “fatwa” or religious decrees, or sermons denouncing its political enemies as disbelievers or deviants anymore.

He said that there will no longer be issues where Islam and the Malays are threatened, as frequently proclaimed by PAS in its many propaganda materials.

“DAP will once again be 'purified' with new fatwas, just as when they were part of the coalition to face the 1999, 2004, and 2008 general elections.

“Umno will be purified again, and there will be no more derogatory words, labels such as 'deviant,' 'infidel,' 'residents of hell,' 'hypocrite,' and various other terms associated with animals, now that they have returned as allies, as seen in the 22 months of cooperation in Muafakat Nasional and uniting the Muslim community,” he wrote.

He also mockingly said that PAS's presence in the unity government would also mean the end of allegations that Malaysia is turning secular due to DAP's presence in Putrajaya.

Yesterday, Hadi's deputy Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man had denied the Islamist party was considering joining Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Madani government as reported by a news outlet.

He said the New Straits Times had reported his speech out of context, which altered it from his meaning when he delivered to the PAS Youth wing when opening the movement’s annual congress yesterday.

This followed a recent interview with American magazine Time, in which Anwar said he would be open to inviting PAS into his administration but warned the latter against religious zealotry.