Nik Abduh admits to lying

Last year, a voice recording of Nik Abduh Nik Aziz admitting that PAS received money from UMNO went viral. However, the Bachok MP denied his involvement in the audio recording.

In February this year, the PAS leader changed his mind and confirmed that the voice was indeed his, and he had to lie to protect himself and his party’s integrity. He added that his action was permitted by PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

In addition, Nik Abduh said that he was only given two options: to tell the truth and admit, or to deny it. After Hadi gave his blessing, he decided to choose the latter.

According to Nik Abduh, both options were “compliant with Shariah laws” and “there is room in Islam to lie” if one wishes to stop slander.

In the media the one who has been controlling PAS narrative on the media is UMNO acting president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, mainly focusing on the newfound alliance between PAS and UMNO.

In August 2016, online news portal Sarawak Report blew the whistle that PAS received money from UMNO, amounting to RM90 million. It was reported that the transaction was done by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as an effort to woo PAS away from the then opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat.

Hadi then filed a suit against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown for defamation, to which Rewcastle-Brown filed a counter-claim against Hadi. Both resolved the issue out of court in February this year.

For the past month, most of the news in the top issues of the topic “PAS” are about the cooperation between PAS and BN for the upcoming by-election. Yet, there are still news related to the RM90 million scandal, which is regarding the RM1.4 million out of court settlement with Sarawak Report.