KUALA LUMPUR: Pas deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has said the party’s members of parliament had no problems declaring their assets, but defended his use of a hadith against it.
He said the hadith he used was “sound”, adding that he had checked the authenticity of the hadith before using it.
Tuan Ibrahim said this to reporters when commenting on differing views from religious scholars.
“We should not rely on just one view when it comes to hadith,” he said when met at Parliament.
Tuan Ibrahim also denied that Pas was using religion to oppose the move to declare assets.
“The hadith serves as our guidance and we are not using it (merely) to oppose the move (to declare assets).”
Tuan Ibrahim said Pas MPs would have no problems declaring assets but questioned why the move was not made a law.
“It was only a motion and does not require a two-thirds majority vote. Hence, the question is why do we not make it a law rather than just a motion,” he said.
When debating the motion to make it mandatory for all MPs to declare their assets on Monday, Tuan Ibrahim had said that it was against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings.
He then referred to a hadith which says: “If God gives you wealth, do not display it, as there will be many who will scrutinise it.”
Tuan Ibrahim had said Islam discourages the act of displaying wealth, and the move would undermine MPs’ safety and was also unnecessary, as the government can keep track of parliamentarians’ incomes through their income tax payments.
The special motion to make it mandatory for all MPs and their immediate family members to declare their assets was passed in Dewan Rakyat with a voice vote.
With the motion being passed, MPs would now be required to declare their assets as well as the assets of their spouses, children aged 21 and below, and those of their related trust holders.
They must declare their assets within a three-month period from the day the motion was approved (July 1), or have until Oct 1 to fill the declaration form to be submitted to the Dewan Rakyat speaker and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief.