Dr M: PAS is backed by the devil

Zurairi AR, The Malaysian Insider

The PAS president is backed by the devil himself, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir said today, in retaliation against Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s thinly-veiled comment about Malay-majority Umno.

“He himself is working with the devil, that’s the devil I know,” Dr Mahathir said in a press conference here, referring to Abdul Hadi.

This remark came after the Marang MP spoke at the Islamist party’s annual conference, or muktamar, last weekend, where he criticised a “party of devils”.

“The devil party which is controlled by the devil — the devil that people know — is incapable of upholding justice for all,” Abdul Hadi said in his opening speech last Friday.

At a press conference later, Abdul Hadi was asked to clarify which party did he mean was the “party of devils”, but he refused to name any names. 

“Siapa yang makan lada, dialah yang rasa pedas,” he replied, referring to a Malay idiom on knowing that one fits a description.

“Go and ask Mahathir, that was said by Mahathir, he was the one who coined the term,” PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali added.

In his blog entry in August, Dr Mahathir had urged the people to choose the “devil they know” rather than risk the country’s future with an “angel they don’t know”, a reference to Pakatan Rakyat. 

The line had since then been used repeatedly to attack the ruling coalition on various occasions.