KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 — Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad (picture) today admitted he was mistaken for his controversial statement that PAS candidates must pledge a loyalty oath or bai’ah to divorce their wives if they leave the party.
The Shah Alam MP made the clarification after women’s organisations and the media criticised him for his earlier statement. PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has denied there is such a pledge.
“This is between me and God and I should not have shared it with other people,” Khalid told a press conference in parliament.
But he added that his wife was honoured because the strength of their marriage could prevent him from being bribed.
He also slammed the mainstream media of trying to paint him as an extremist by using this issue.
“Obviously, they are trying to show that we look upon our wives as something which is worthless but actually it is the reverse. For the Barisan Nasional people, maybe they would like to wager their BMWs and Mercedes because those are the things of value to them.
“But for us it is the wife and family institution that would prevent betrayal. The objective is to prevent betrayal so what is it that would prevent betrayal? For some people it is their BMW or their RM 24 million dollar bungalow but for PAS is their wife and marriage and the value that they put in their institution of marriage,” he explained.
He emphasised the oath aims to prevent party member from betraying the party, public and their wife.
“So the person who breaks the oath would have betrayed his party, public and wife. That is the kind of person that would jump. I think in Malaysia betraying the party and pubic is a small matter but when they betray their then it becomes a big issue.
“So that is why such an oath would be of value,” he maintained.
Khalid also criticised Kulim PKR MP Zulkifli Noordin and asked him to retract his statement on the issue.
“The statement about wives shuddering and crying because of the oath because he was not there and from what authority did he make his statement and for the sake of his own credibility he should retract it. Don’t know what kind of source,” he said.
He added that the statement made was irresponsible and completely baseless.
“I think it was irresponsible for him to make a statement on a ceremony where he was not there so I think it is completely irresponsible and it is not a kind of statement that would be made by someone who is a parliamentarian. This is probably why he was not accepted in PAS and as an MP for PAS,” Khalid said.
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