PAS Terengganu commissioner Mustafa Ali has blasted Terengganu Mentri Besar Idris Jusoh for stating that PAS had allowed Ayah Pin to spread his deviant teachings when PAS was in power in the state.

While the current state government under Umno had clearly failed to take action against Ayah Pin and his followers in Besut, PAS did all it could to counter their unhealthy activities while it was in power between 1999 and 2004, he said.

"Now, Umno is depending on the federal government to resolve the issue for them. It's most unfair that the mentri besar is now trying to blame PAS for allowing the deviant teachings to spread in Terengganu," he told malaysiakini .

"It is upsetting that Idris Jusoh has wilfully issued a false statement to mislead the public from the truth. Try as they may to shift the blame on PAS, Umno leaders cannot negate the facts that Ayah Pin's teachings flourished soon after Umno won the state from PAS in the last general election.

"The PAS government - under the state religious affairs department - did everything we could although the police at that time refused to give us their full cooperation."

"Soon after PAS lost Terengganu in March 2004, we see the construction of the new buildings and religious replicas at their base in Jertih. That is a fact. This is why we are saddened that Umno leaders are putting us in a bad light by trying to connect us to Ayah Pin," Mustafa said.

International issue

He was referring to recent news reports which quoted Idris as saying that Ayah Pin's teachings spread under the PAS government and that the religious structures were erected before Umno reclaimed the state last year.

The mentri besar also said that the state will not act against Ayah Pin as the matter is now in the hands of federal authorities since it has become an international issue.

Mustafa suspected that the real reason why Umno did not want to take action was because Ayah Pin and his followers were strong supporters of the party.

"Ayah Pin had openly admitted that he had voted for Umno. Many of his supporters were also supporters of Umno. I strongly suspect this is the real reason. If this is true, it is a sad day for the people of Terengganu as they are now led by leaders who put their political interest and survival over the need to defend the integrity of Islam," he said.

Lackadaisical Umno

In a statement issued earlier, Mustafa said that the attempts by Umno leaders to falsely link Ayah Pin and PAS were made in bad faith and a tactic to shift the public's attention from their failure in handling the matter.

"PAS is disappointed that Idris had lied and misled the public from the truth."

He said Umno's lackadaisical attitude in handling Ayah Pin's deviant teachings is not new as it had also failed to counter the deviant sect when it first started in Terengganu in the early 1980s.

"It is public knowledge that Ayah Pin's teachings started in the early1980s and his activities went unchecked and so freely that he had attracted more than 1,000 followers."

He stated soon after PAS formed as state government, it declared Ayah Pin's teachings "deviant and a threat to public order and faith". In June 2001, the state religious department enforcement unit arrested Ayah Pin who was subsequently convicted and jailed eleven months for insulting Islam.

He added that the state even arranged counselling sessions for Ayah Pin, his four wives and followers with the state religious department officers.

"These actions taken depict PAS' seriousness in curbing and fighting the deviant teachings of Ayah Pin although the police had refused to cooperate with us on this matter."

Fair investigations

Mustafa also commented on a Berita Harian report yesterday stating that a former PAS assemblyman was remanded to assist police investigations on the attack at Ayah Pin's village on early Monday morning.

Claiming that the report was intended to put PAS in the bad light, he clarified that the suspect was sacked from PAS eight years ago for disciplinary action and is now a well-known Umno activist.

He also urged the authorities to conduct a fair investigation into the attack so that the real culprits will be brought to justice.

On July 18, about 1,000 villagers living near Ayah Pin's commune surrounded the area and reportedly tried to burn some of the giant structures said to symbolise the universality of the world's major faiths.