By Shannon Teoh
SHAH ALAM, Feb 21 — Former Selangor PAS chief Datuk Hasan Ali announced today his new Muslim NGO Jati would be “saviours of the faith” by defending Islam, Malay rights and the Malay Rulers, a concept he termed as IMR.
The former Selangor executive councillor told about 300 at the launch of Jati here that the weakened faith of Muslims had led to them being left behind in the economy and plagued by moral and social ills.
“We are saviours of the faith. We are here to save the faith and not just in Selangor,” he said in his presidential address this evening.
The Gombak Setia assemblyman, who was sacked from PAS after accusing the Islamic party of deviating from its religious principles, said that Malaysia has suffered because it has adopted Western ideas of development without modifications, leading to “lopsided development.”
“In 2008, Bumiputera equity was only 19.3 per cent. In the list of Malaysia’s top ten billionaires, only one is Malay Bumiputera. Is this what Hasan Ali will leave behind for future generations?” he said, referring to logistics tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary.
Hasan (picture) added that every 17 minutes, a child was born out of wedlock in Malaysia, the country spent RM1.7 billion on alcohol annually and in 2006, 11.2 per cent of Malaysians suffered from mental illness.
“In FELDA, husbands are swapping wives. What is going on?” he said, adding that immoral activities that occurred in the nightlife hotspots of Kuala Lumpur were also happening among the mostly Malay 2.8 million population in the federal land development programme.
He told a press conference later that Jati “has a big role and agenda to use our strength to solve problems of faith, character and morals.”
Hasan, who is a firm supporter of anti-apostasy movement Himpunan Sejuta Umat, has repeatedly claimed that Christians are converting “hundreds, maybe even thousands” of Muslims due to the weakness of their faith.
Jati claims to have over 1,000 members not including those who signed up today.