‘A crime to condemn Mat Indera as communist’ – PAS
(HARAKAH DAILY) – Urging prime minister Najib Razak to form a cabinet committee to review the nation’s history of independence, top PAS leaders today reaffirmed their support to remarks by Mohamad Sabu on the Bukit Kepong attack in 1950 which killed scores of colonial policemen.
Mat Sabu’s comments on Mat Indera (above) during a speech on August 21 has made him the focus of a media campaign by UMNO, calling the PAS deputy president a communist sympathiser.
PAS secretary general Mustafa Ali however charged that UMNO had been caught lying, because while Mat Sabu hailed Mat Indera as a national hero, it was UMNO leaders who branded the Johor-born fighter as a communist in keeping with British-friendly version of history.
Mustafa cited a book published by the Johor Heritage Foundation in 2004 and endorsed by Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman, Pengukir Nama Johor, describing Mat Indera as a Johorean hero of independence, among 21 other independence fighters.
“So what has been said by Mohamad Sabu that Mat Indera is an independence fighter is true. There is nothing to be disputed. On the other hand, UMNO has committed a crime for labeling Mat Indera a communist,” he said.
Also present at the press conference (left) were Mat Sabu, vice president Salahuddin Ayub, information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man and central committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
Mustafa reiterated the need to revisit historical texts which depicted only UMNO leaders as independence fighters.
Saying there should be “historical honesty”, Mustafa said justice must be done so that what actually happened in history could be established.
‘Onn Jaafar and Tunku were British officers’
Mustafa also reaffirmed the party’s stance that the fight for independence did not begin with the formation of UMNO, whose leaders were handed over power by the British in 1957.
“The fight against British had started much earlier, since Datuk Maharajalela in Perak, Tok Gajah, Tok Bahaman in Pahang, Dol Said in Negeri Sembilan and Melaka, Tok Janggut in Kelantan, Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong in Terengganu and others.
