'SHOULD NIK AZIZ BE BURIED IN A MUSLIM GRAVEYARD': Umno man Zam's old post stirs up trouble

KUALA LUMPUR - A veteran newsman and former minister was initially confused why his blog had recorded more than 15,000 visitors from late Thursday night to yesterday evening.

Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, who blogs at zamkata.blogspot.com had earlier announced his “retirement” from blogging about politics, and expressed his initial confusion at the sudden spike of visitors on his blog, especially since his last posting was not of a controversial manner.

In his most recent posting, Zainuddin or better known as Zam, said he finally figured out the reason for the sudden surge in visitors, and it was due to an old posting that was being shared again.

Dated April 5, 2013, the posting titled “Patutkah Nik Aziz dikebumikan di tanah perkuburan Islam” was shared on Facebook and had become viral, and looked damaging especially in light of the former Kelantan Menteri Besar’s passing on Thursday night.

Zainuddin said only the title of the posting was shared, and noted that this led to people being angry as it was seen out of context.

“The spread of this title, without the entire contents, surely would make people angry, warrant a heated discussion and bring about a false perception about me, be it from PAS or non-PAS people,” Zainuddin said on his blog.

“That posting (from April 5, 2013) was a reaction from what Nik Aziz had said that the prayers of a Muslim in Umno would not receive pahala (rewards) and that Umno was a murtad (apostate) party which was already debunked by a mufti,” Zainuddin said.

Zainuddin however pointed out that the sharing of the more than a year old posting was not necessarily done by someone from PAS, but could be from those with an evil motive to tarnish his name, or to maintain a bad outlook between Umno and PAS.

“I hope before you make any conclusions, read the April 5, 2013 posting fully first so you do not make deductions and threats based on sentiment and anger without having full information,” he said. - http://www.therakyatpost.com/