PAS leader says govt full of thieves

PAS leader says govt full of thieves

KOTA BARU, Malaysia (AFP): Malaysia's government is full of thieves who fear an Islamic state because their hands would have to be chopped off, a leader of the main opposition party said on Monday.

Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the revered spiritual chief of Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) and chief minister of Kelantan state, said this was why the government was whipping up anti-PAS feeling in the Chinese community.

He told a meeting with some 300 Chinese members of the Democratic Action Party -- PAS's ally in an opposition coalition -- that the community had nothing to fear from his party's aim for an Islamic state.

Nik Abdul Aziz said Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's United Malays National Organization "steals from the banks", citing rising cases of bailouts for troubled companies linked to the government.