Nik Aziz to sue over media reports

SEBERANG PERAI (Aug 23, 2009): PAS spiritual leader and Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nik Aziz Nik Mat is initiating legal action against two newspapers and a television station over reports that he had said Umno supporters would not get to heaven. PAS legal advisor Mohamed Hanifa Maidin said today he had been instructed to send legal notices to Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia and TV3, giving them seven days to retract their reports and apologise. Nik Aziz had reportedly said in Bukit Mertajam here on Aug 17 that Islam as practised by Umno members would not take Muslims to heaven, as it was a form of "false Islam" brought from Palestine and not the Islam as preached by PAS. He then denied having made such a statement the next day. He claimed the misquoted statements were an attempt by certain quarters to cause friction between him and the Palestine authority and create a new issue in the run-up to the upcoming Permatang Pasir state by-election. "I read two mainstream newspapers where I saw the word, Palestine. I strongly deny this (mentioning Palestine). I also don't always use the words, Umno members and Umno supporters," he had reportedly told journalists. Speaking at a press conference at the PAS operations centre in Permatang Pasir here, Mohamed Hanifa said the action against the the three agencies over alleged defamation was not intended to rake in money but was to clear Nik Aziz’s good name. “We will send them (the media agencies) letters. If they ask for forgiveness and admit to their error, we will not take any further action,” he said. “We just want them to withdraw what they had reported.” PAS information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar said if the agencies continued to publish or broadcast malicious allegations, PAS was ready to file an injunction against them. “The leaders of PAS and the Pakatan Rakyat have become victims of spin from media owned by the Barisan Nasional (BN),” he said. He stressed that the move was not intended to intimidate individual journalists but to help arrest “malicious journalism”. The Permatang Pasir by-election, to be held on Tuesday (Aug 25), is seeing a straight fight between Penang PAS commissioner Salleh Man, 55, and Umno Permatang Pauh division secretary Rohaizat Othman, 38, who represents BN. The by-election came about after the constituency’s PAS assemblyman Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman died of heart failure on July 31.