PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and his party must first stop labelling non-Muslims as non-believers (kafir) in order to win their support, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng said today.

The DAP lawmaker said PAS regularly uses the “kafir” term against non-Muslims in the country, which gives a negative perception of the group.

“Hadi and PAS need to agree that this term only brings negative effects and disrupts the harmony of the multicultural society in Malaysia,” Lim said in a statement.

He was responding to Hadi’s call at the 69th PAS Muktamar yesterday for the party to attract non-Muslims and prove to them that it was not an extremist political party.

Hadi had said this was necessary if PAS and Perikatan Nasional (PN) wanted to win federal power in the next general election.

At present, both PAS and PN enjoy a huge support from the Malays following their strong far-right race and religion agenda.

Lim said for PAS to win the support of non-Muslims, it must present itself to these voters that it respects their rights.

He said Hadi and PAS must also agree that Malaysia is a secular country that makes Islam its official religion.

“Furthermore, Hadi also needs to agree that corruption in Malaysia is a deeply rooted problem that does not discriminate against any race, and is not solely caused by non-Muslims as he has stated before,” he said.

“Blanket statements without evidence only worsen the situation and do not help foster a culture of unity among the races.

“I hope that Hadi and PAS will take these three suggestions into consideration and try to improve their approach towards non-Muslims.”

Former DAP leader P. Ramasamy, meanwhile, said PAS must shed its extremist image to gain the support of non-Muslims.

The former Penang deputy chief minister and long-time PAS critic said the Islamist party has finally realised the political reality that it needs the support of all races to hold power at the federal level.

“PAS leaders understand that the so-called extremism of the party was more to enable the party to gather Malay political support from Umno,” he said in a statement.

“Hadi might have been hard on DAP, but given the political reality, there is nothing to stop the party from wooing the Chinese and Indians.

“PAS also realises that not all Chinese and Indians are happy with supporting the Madani government.”

He said PAS seems to realise the need to recalibrate its position and role in the larger national context.

“I am not saying that PAS is going to eschew its brand of extremism overnight by taking on a broader and more meaningful role in the national political arena,” he said.

“However, one thing seems sure; PAS might be in the process of shedding its original skin to embrace the emerging political reality in Malaysia.

“The ball is at the feet of PAS to show Malaysians that it not the party of ethnic and religious extremism – that it is ready to embrace and cherish ethnic and religious diversity in Malaysia.” – October 21, 2023.