So when exactly did I become ‘kafir harbi’? Kit Siang asks Pahang mufti
(MMO) – DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang challenged today Pahang Mufti Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Osman to state the moment he became “kafir harbi” or an infidel who should be killed for purportedly opposing Islam.
The veteran lawmaker said he had sworn an oath in Parliament to protect and uphold the Federal Constitution 10 times and asked if this was still insufficient to prove his loyalty to the country.
“Can a Malaysian who had subscribed 10 times to the oath as an MP to ‘bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia’ and to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution’ become a ‘kafir habir’ [sic] to be killed or slain?” the Gelang Patah MP asked in a statement.
He asked if he was “kafir harbi” as far back as 1978 when he stood up to defend the Islamist PAS-led Kelantan government against a purported attempt at being ousted by the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition, or in 1985 when he condemned the federal government’s management of the Memali incident in Kedah which saw violent clashes between national security forces and a Muslim sect of 400 people that ended in 18 deaths.
Lim further questioned if he was “kafir harbi” in 1998 for being the father to then-Kota Melaka MP Lim Guan Eng who was convicted and jailed on twin charges of sedition and a violation of the Printing Presses and Publications Act for accusing the then Malacca chief minister of statutory rape of a Malay girl or in 2000, for condemning the federal government’s “hijacking” of Terengganu’s oil royalty payment after the east coast state fell into PAS hands.
The term “kafir harbi” was used by Muslims in the past to describe non-believers who go against Allah and Prophet Muhammad and can be slain.
Abdul Rahman triggered a public uproar when he was reported by Malay daily Utusan Malaysia last week to have used the label on the DAP, claiming the secular party to be anti-Islam.
Lim pointed out and thanked Datuk Ibrahim Ali, president of Malay Muslim rights group Perkasa, who had criticised the Pahang senior cleric as being “excessive” in denouncing the DAP as “kafir harbi”.
He contrasted Ibrahim’s outspoken defence of the DAP against the silence of the BN leaders in the face of the Pahang mufti’s incendiary remarks and asked if they condoned the religious leader’s statement.
“A refusal or avoidance by the Cabinet to take a stand on the Pahang State Mufti’s statement, which has such far-reaching consequences not only for the Malaysian Constitution and Rukunegara principles, but the future of Malaysian plural nation-building, will be an eloquent statement by itself,” Lim said.
