PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan had openly wished Merry Christmas to Malaysians celebrating the day and said differences of opinion are a blessing in Islam. ― Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 ― DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang today questioned PAS on who has the right to speak for the Islamist party after several leaders issues conflicting messages regarding Christmas greetings by Muslims.

The Iskandar Puteri MP asked whether it was PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan or the party’s Youth wing chief Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi who is also the son of its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

“Is the warning by the PAS Youth Leader and the son of the PAS President, Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi, warning Muslims not to post Christmas greetings on Facebook because the Christian celebration is against the teachings of Islam and that there should not be any acknowledgement of the Christian religion the official stand of PAS or is it merely the personal view of the son of the President?

“Who has the bigger say in PAS ― the PAS Secretary-General or the PAS Youth Leader who is also the son of the PAS President?” Lim asked in a statement.

Takiyuddin had openly wished Merry Christmas to Malaysians celebrating the day and said differences of opinion are a blessing in Islam.

Lim also urged Hadi as the party president, its spiritual leader Hashim Jasin and the Islamist party’s powerful Dewan Syura to clarify PAS’s official stand on festival wishes to non-Muslims.

He pointed out that many prominent Muslims have offered the season’s greetings in the past and still do today and wondered if it made them “any less a Muslim as a result”.

Among those he listed were national personalities like Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor, the latter’s wife Raja Zarith Sultan Idris Shah, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim while those outside the country were Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Lim also said he was “flattered” that Hadi’s son had seen it worthy to come up with an “Amanat Kit Siang” against him, and added that his “mandate” was for all Malaysians regardless of their religious backgrounds to make Malaysia a leading country in interfaith dialogue, understanding and tolerance.

He then criticised PAS for having leaders with a “primitive mindset” like its Selangor Ulama deputy chief who recently linked the latest Indonesian tsunami that hit Carita to vice activities that supposedly courted God’s anger.

“Such primitive mindset may have some influence, like on the Umno President Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, who has gone of ‘garden leave’, as to influence his thinking as evidenced by his parliamentary utterance, but it does not raise the stocks of the PAS leaders among thinking Malaysians,” Lim said.

He said PAS leaders should learn more from Dr Wan Azizah who sought to bridge interfaith differences as evident from her speech at yesterday’s Christmas high tea organised by the Christian Federation of Malaysia in which the deputy prime minister related her upbringing and good values learnt from nuns at her alma mater in a convent school.