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by Kazi Mahmood KUALA LUMPUR (Islam Online) - Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad challenged the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) to give proof of its good deeds for the cause of Islam and Muslims. The "PAS has not done anything for the good of Muslims and instead has hurled slander," the Prime Minister said. Mahathir has been stepping up pressure on the PAS, claiming that the party is not genuinely Islamic. The PAS merely used Islam to humiliate the religion and the Rasulullah, he said at a meet-the-people session in his home state of Kedah, a region which narrowly escaped from being captured by PAS in the November 1999 general elections. The Islamic Party is the major opponent to Mahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO). Both parties are now competing to become the major ethnc Malay party in the country. UMNO is the leading party in the National Front (BN) government while PAS leads the Alternative Front (BA). Mahathir added that the PAS failed to bring development to the people even though it had formed the current government and was administering Kelantan, a northern state of Malaysia bordering Thailand. Kelantan, led by Chief Minister Nik Aziz Nik Mat, is considered the poorest in the Malaysian Federation and has remained a PAS stronghold for more than a decade. "The PAS Government has failed to provide even basic facilities such as water," Mahathir said. This type of sortie against the PAS is said to be one of many Mahathir intends to make in the near future in his bid to wrestle Malay support from the Islamists. |
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