DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today slammed PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang for allegedly pitting the Muslim majority against the non-Muslim minority in justifying the need for the gathering against the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd).

In a statement, Lim also rued that Hadi’s recent remark that the rally was necessary, as non-Muslim MPs in the Pakatan Harapan government far outnumbered Muslim MPs in the Parliament, was “highly provocative”.

“Instead of preaching national unity amongst all Malaysians of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, Hadi continues to try and divide Malaysians, by pitting the Muslims against non-Muslims.

“Firstly, the figures quoted by Hadi are not accurate. He said there are 66 non-Muslim MPs and 58 Muslim MPs in Harapan. In fact, there are 62 Muslim MPs in Harapan.

“The bumiputera MPs, which include the non-Muslim bumiputera, outnumber the non-bumiputera, 70 to 58 in Harapan. Does Hadi consider the non-Muslim bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak, as not equal, just because they are not Muslims?” asked Lim, who is also the finance minister.

Further reading: The Icerd Outrage

He further pointed out that out of the 28 cabinet members, including senators, 17 are Muslims and only 11 are non-Muslims, while among the deputy ministers, 18 are Muslims and nine are non-Muslims.

Out of the 222 MPs, 140 of them are Muslims while only 82 of them are non-Muslims, Lim said.

“How can Muslim rights be threatened when Muslim MPs comprise 63 percent of MPs in the Parliament? Using Hadi’s logic, shouldn’t the non-Muslims feel threatened by the 63 percent Muslim MPs in Parliament?” he asked.

Lim said that PAS’ insistence of joining the anti-Icerd rally this Saturday, despite the government’s announcement that it would not ratify the UN instrument, was all about political survival and gaining political capital for the Islamist party.

Instead of gathering against the Icerd, which is no longer relevant, PAS is better protesting against all the financial scandals which happened under the administration of Umno/BN, he added.

“This would be the right thing to do for all Malaysians, both for Muslims as well as for non-Muslims.”