Catholic Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing today reminded Hasan Ali of PAS, the
Selangor executive councillor in charge of Islamic affairs, that he is a
“an elected representative of a party that cannot rely on dubious
evidence when accusing others of wrongdoing”.
Responding to Hasan’s opinion that yesterday’s statement
by the Selangor sultan showed that there was Christian proselytising of
Muslims at a function hosted by a Christian group in August, the head
of the Catholic Church in the Malacca-Johor diocese said: “More than any
other party, PAS has to be extremely fastidious about the evidence
before preferring an accusation.”
Tan
explained: “Need I remind him his party wants to implement a judicial
system - at least in one state in the country - that in the terminal
finality of the punishments it encompasses makes the sifting of evidence
a matter of the gravest responsibility.
“In leaping to his conclusions in the matter of alleged Christian
proselytising of Muslims at the dinner hosted by the Damansara Utama
Methodist Centre (DUMC), Hasan has been grossly negligent in respect of
evidence evaluation.
“He has done a grave disservice to the cause of the judicial system his
party is on record as propounding for the good of citizens in this
country.
“People are going to look at the way he has leaped from arbitrary fact
to accusatory conclusion in this matter and ask what kind of system is
his party propounding that allows a grave accusation to be preferred on a
dubious evidentiary basis.”
Tan reminded Hasan (left)
that “not only in Selangor but every other state in Malaysia, his party
is in contention with the supposedly corrupt and unprincipled”.
“Therefore it is incumbent upon him to hold himself to a higher standard
of public conduct and exposition than of those he is in contention
with.”
The bishop said he was “extremely dismayed” that Hasan has “now
compounded his initial error committed last August when he leaped to a
conclusion about what had allegedly happened at the DUMC function and
was in peril of disciplinary action by his party”.
“Just because the Sultan of Selangor, against the better counsel of his
constitutional role as non-partisan arbiter, has stooped to partisanship
in this matter, it doesn’t mean the state minister of religion can ride
pillion.
“The let-off his party afforded him when it did not take disciplinary
action has become a licence for him to disport himself as he wishes. So
much for a higher standard of conduct by a senior PAS legislator,” Tan
added.
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