Wednesday February 20, 2008

Nik Aziz won’t say sorry for insulting Umno members

By IAN MCINTYRE

KOTA BARU: An unrepentant Datuk Seri Nik Aziz Nik Mat said he would not apologise for calling Umno members orang utans, as he had meant it.

“Sometimes one has to be a bit rough for the message to hit home,” the PAS spiritual adviser said of his statement made on Sunday.

“When someone does something wrong, we should be in the position to correct him. Sometimes I advise, sometimes I use the rotan. In this case, it is the rotan.

“Even the West uses the word 'animal' quite liberally. I am not even using the word ‘animal’. I am only using the word ‘orang utan’, which is not as bad.”

Speaking to reporters at his office here yesterday, Nik Aziz also dismissed the recent visit of The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, to Kuala Lumpur.

He said he did not believe that the world-renowned Muslim scholar had backed Islam Hadhari as reported in some media, because being a guest of the Government it would not have been proper for him to say anything against the host, including on Islam Hadhari.

Nik Aziz also said that he did not trust the reports in the media either.

On the PAS candidates selected to contest here, Nik Aziz said in an interview that as far as he knew, all were non-smokers.

“But if they smoke behind closed doors, I would not know,” he said.

“And if they do smoke in hiding, it means in their hearts they know it is wrong.”

In the past, Nik Aziz had said party members who smoked did not fully understand Islam, as smoking was considered allowed but not encouraged, or even forbidden.

He had even likened smokers to animals who did not think before hurting themselves.

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