DAP wants to engage Asri after criticism of failing to safeguard Islam

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is seeking a meeting with Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin following the Perlis mufti's criticism of the party.

Asri had reportedly claimed that there was a perception that Pakatan Harapan failed to defend Islam due to DAP leaders' inability in controlling themselves from making statements that would contribute to such a perception.

DAP's Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim Chee Keong said he had reached out to Asri and the Perlis mufti is willing to have a meeting with Lim.

"I had contacted Asri to discuss recent media reports quoting him on DAP and Islam. Asri said his reported statement was different from what he had actually said.

"The DAP is always ready to accept criticism and advice in the interest of the common good, but there is a need to reject the opposition's slander that DAP is supposedly against Islam," he said in a statement today.

Sim said the DAP-led state government in Penang, for example, had increased allocation for Islamic affairs and religious schools as well as providing allowances to religious teachers and obtaining a 40-hectare land for a halal hub.

At the federal level, Sim said Lim, who is also finance minister, had increased the budget for Islamic affairs by RM100 million.

"DAP always respects the position of Islam as the religion of the federation as enshrined in the Federal Constitution but finds itself slandered by the opposition as being anti-Islam while it extols kleptocrats and the corrupt.

"I hope that the friendly ties between the DAP and Asri can be maintained through discussion, dialogue and mutual understanding," he said.