By Debra Chong
SEBERANG JAYA, Aug 25 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s campaign last night brought out the imam who witnessed his accuser’s oath taken on the Quran, seeking to undermine the oath and sodomy accusation that have cost the opposition icon votes in his quest to enter Parliament and topple the Barisan Nasional government.
Ramlang Porigi, an imam in a Federal Territory mosque, claimed he witnessed Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s Quranic oath or “sumpah muhabalah” taken on Aug 15, the eve of the Permatang Pauh nomination day and it was technically wrong.
BN leaders and party workers have been using Saiful’s oath in their campaign to dent Anwar’s popularity in his hometown seat where illegal bookies say such tactics have shortened the odds on Anwar’s victory margin from 5-1 for 20,000 votes to 4-1 for between 10,000 and 15,000 votes.
Anwar’s wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail easily retained the seat with a 13,388-vote majority in the March 8 polls and anything less than that is seen as a moral victory for the BN.
But Ramlang’s confession could help Anwar turn the tide and push his expected majority higher against BN candidate Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah and Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia (Akim) president Hanafi Mamat who threw his hat in the ring to make it a three-cornered contest on polling day tomorrow.
Today is the last 24 hours of campaigning with Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat and its allies organising a ceramah in each of the 28 polling districts in Permatang Pauh while the BN continues with its house-to-house visits and smaller ceramahs to gain votes.
Ramlang, who is apparently registered as a voter in the by-election, was in town and gave his first testimony at the Bandar Perda mosque near here at 8.10pm in front of a large congregation made up of mostly Pas and PKR supporters.
The crowd had been waiting for the arrival of Pas’s spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who was to lead them in performing a special prayer, the “solat munajat”, for Anwar’s safety and victory in the by-election.
However, the respected leader was delayed by heavy rain and traffic jams. The Anwar campaign has been marked by the use of ulamaks and other religious figures to justify his reluctance to take an oath regarding the fresh sodomy accusation.
Ramlang was then given the chance to state clearly his role in the controversial ceremony, which he repeated at two more PKR-organised ceramahs that night and again at a hastily-convened press conference at Yayasan Aman at 12.30 this morning.
In essence, he explained his role as a mere witness to the oath-taking ceremony and denied he played an active part in drafting the text of the oath, as the rumour mill had generated.
“I am the one in the red and white robe and kopiah. I was in the mosque that day to marry a couple. After that, I was instructed by my superiors, as many as four people, to attend the swearing,” Ramlang said, explaining his presence at the ceremony.
“I was only there as a witness, to listen in,” he elaborated, noting that Saiful made two errors while reciting the oath: the first when he mispronounced the word for God and had Ramlang correct him; and the second when he confused the date of the alleged sodomy incident and corrected himself.
It was supposed to have happened on June 26, but Saiful slipped and said Aug 26 instead.
Ramlang described that Saiful looked far from regretful or fearful, for someone who had just uttered dreadful words that essentially asked God to rain down his just vengeance on him and his descendants if he lied.
The youthful imam also said that the so-called “sumpah muhabalah” performed by Saiful could not be classified as one, to his understanding.
“What Saiful did is ‘sumpah laknat’ for himself … to defend himself,” he added.
Ramlang clarified that to perform a proper “sumpah muhabalah”, both sides needed to be present, and the oath recited in front of each other.
An authentic “sumpah muhabalah” also needed to be carried out in a syariah court and not a mosque and did not require the hand to be laid on the Quran, he said.
At the press conference, Ramlang said he decided to step forward because of the pressure he had been under in the past few days following the ceremony.
“I did not feel any pressure before that in my work. Two, three days after that, I did not receive any criticism, but four days after that, I received SMSes and phone calls criticising me harshly,” he said.
Giving an example, he recounted a recent incident when he had answered a phone call and was asked if he was Ustad Ramlang. When he replied in the affirmative, the person on the other end of the line scolded him: “Kurang ajar punya imam!”
Asked why he decided to use Anwar’s ceramah platform to explain his actions, he said: “In this past week, I was not defended by any party. I am thankful to the PKR for giving me this chance to clear my name and my image.”
He added that generally, he did so without representing any political party. When it was pointed out to him that he was a member of Umno, a rival of PKR. What prompted him to come clean?
“For your information, I registered in 2003, before I migrated to Kuala Lumpur. I registered to help a friend. I am not an active member or hold any positions in the party.
“Actually, I can be classified as a false member,” Ramlang replied.
When Ramlang was asked if he was forced to make this statement and if the person was Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the deputy prime minister, he was taken aback at first but quickly regained his composure and fired back: “If I say Najib, he wasn't there that day!”
He reiterated that he had only been given a role to play that day because he had been ordered to do so by his superiors. However, he declined to name them. As a simple government servant, he had only followed orders.
He also made it clear that he was doing all this without having been bribed to do so.
“I did not receive any payment, not even a sen,” he emphasised.
But possibly the most damaging statement Ramlang uttered last night against the BN was when he was asked if he thought the oath a conspiracy by Saiful.
“For me, maybe, because it was done on the eve of nomination day,” said Ramlang.
The BN’s campaign to date seems to have focused on discrediting Anwar’s reputation as a moral leader as it screens videos of the oath-taking ceremony which was video-recorded at the FT mosque. The latest word on the street is that the real Saiful landed in Penang yesterday. However, the reports are unconfirmed as no sighting of Anwar’s young accuser, in the flesh, has been made thus far.
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