Speaking at a press conference at the party headquarters here Tuesday, Mohamad claimed that Dr Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Home Minister, was the culprit behind the accusation with "bad intentions" to attack his dignity and integrity.
"My lawyers have also gone through Zahid's speech which linked me with Syiah and I believe there has been an abuse of power from his side," said Mohamad, who is better known as Mat Sabu.
Dr Ahmad Zahid, at the recent Umno general assembly, stated in his winding-up speech that PAS had elected a Syiah leader as the "PAS no 2" and that the Home Ministry had given authority to the Malaysian Islamic Religious Development Department (Jakim) to initiate action.
Mat Sabu described the statement as an "abuse of power" as Jakim was not under the purview of the Home Ministry and that it has no basis to take action against him.
"God willing, I will lodge a police report against Zahid for his irresponsible statement. I hope the police will act professionally without fear or favour in their investigation," he said.
Mat Sabu also said he would no longer make any more statements on the matter until it was brought to court by his lawyers.
"From here on in, I will leave it to my lawyers and I will not give any kind of explanation or statement regarding this issue. I will not entertain this matter until it is heard in court," he said.
Mat Sabu's lawyer Mohamad Hanipa Maidin, who was also present, said a letter of demand will be sent to Dr Ahmad Zahid this week which needed a response within three to four days.
"We have not decided but we will definitely issue the letter of demand where he has to retract his statement and apologise. If (there is) no response, we will take the matter to court," said Hanipa, who is also a Sepang MP.
To a question, he also said there was no need for Mat Sabu to deny the 10 pieces of "evidence" revealed by the Home Ministry last week, as they were "irrelevant".
"Based on the law, the burden of proof is not with Mat Sabu. He is innocent until provent guilty. If he (Dr Ahmad Zahid) has all the evidence, bring it to court and defend his justification," he said.
Last week, the ministry was reported to have urged Mat Sabu to come forward and "disprove" the evidence of links to the Syiah sect, which is considered deviant in Malaysia.
"There's no such thing as 'disprove' concept in law. It's either you prove it or you don't. That is all," he said.
The Star
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