Malaysia’s PAS chief rebuked by Selangor sultan for ‘rude’ article questioning apex court’s ruling

The head of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) received a rare royal rebuke on Thursday over his criticism of a recent apex court ruling that found the state of Kelantan had overreached in its sharia law implementation, with the sultan of Selangor accusing the lawmaker of “deliberately provoking political polemics”.

A five-page letter from the palace of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah – the ruling monarch of the state of Selangor who is also the chairman of the National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs – mentions PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang by name, accusing his article published on his party’s website on Tuesday of being “rude” and out of line.

In the article, the 76-year-old PAS leader wrote that the country’s monarchs need to “have a vision towards the afterlife” and not only on worldly matters, saying they would be judged by God on how they used their power and position while alive.

“The cynical statement of Abdul Hadi is very inappropriate and rude,” said the sultan’s private secretary, Muhamad Munir Bani, in a letter issued to Selangor’s PAS commissioner.

PAS is currently the single largest party in the parliament after capitalising on a rise in conservative sentiment during the 2022 elections, dubbed “the green wave”.

Apart from Kelantan, which has been under PAS’ rule since 1990, the party and its PN coalition also govern Abdul Hadi’s home state of Terengganu, as well as Kedah and Perlis.

The sultan also questioned Abdul Hadi’s loyalty to the country’s constitution after the PAS leader asserted that it was written by British colonisers who gave Malaysia an “imperfect independence” through a constitution that was created “according to their mould” and contains “time bombs” that would ultimately destroy Islam, the