PAS has made lying shariah-compliant, thanks to the spate of lies and counter-statements issued by its leaders recently, said Muhyiddin Yassin. 

The Pakatan Harapan president was referring to the recent issue regarding PAS’ support for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Semenyih by-election. 

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said PAS will not back BN in the by-election, following his meeting with the Islamist party president Abdul Hadi Awang in Putrajaya last week. 

However, PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said the party will still support BN although on a smaller scale compared with its cooperation in the Cameron Highlands by-election. 

“I believe the news came out in such way to make it easy for PAS to deny the statement made by Tun Mahathir. I believe our prime minister did not lie about it, so who did?

“Everyone now knows that PAS is a party that likes to lie. It has made lying shariah-compliant, so it denied the statement,” Muhyiddin said during a ceramah at Kg Rinching Hilir in Semenyih last night. 

Also present were PH’s candidate for the by-election Mohamad Aiman Zainali, PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, Bersatu information chief Radzi Jidin and Selangor Menteri Besar Amiruddin Shari. 

Muhyiddin said the meeting between Dr Mahathir and Hadi did happen as there are photos circulating online of the event. 

Muhyiddin, who is also Bersatu president, cited another example of PAS’ propensity to lie when Hadi offered to settle his defamation suit with Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown.  

Hadi sued Rewcastle-Brown over the article “As Najib denies all over 1MDB, let’s not forget his many other criminal connections”, published on August 6, 2016, in which she alleged Hadi and other PAS leaders received millions from then Umno president Najib Razak to back the party in the May general election.

Muhyiddin said Hadi’s offer to settle the suit shows that the PAS leadership did accept money from Najib. 

He said anyone accused of this would continue with the suit if he is not guilty of the allegation.

“If they had continued with the suit, they might have won in court and PAS might have gotten £100 million (RM530 million). That is more than RM90 million,” added Muhyiddin. 

Hadi finalised an out-of-court settlement via a consent order dated February 1 at the London High Court. He also consented to withdraw his claims against Rewcastle-Brown as the defendant was said to have similarly withdrawn her counterclaims.

The article, however, remains online without any alteration. No order was made as to costs. – February 19, 2019.