Saturday, September 20, 2014

PAS - what could have been!

Extracts of TMI's The two sides of PAS


Take a bow, Hanipa Maidin, Mohd Sany Abdullah, Wan Kharizal Wan Khazim and their ilk.

These men refused to be cowed into silence or beaten into submission by the boos, walkouts and thuggish behaviour by a segment of delegates at the PAS muktamar this week.

They urged their party men to think carefully before accepting the position of menteri besar of Selangor, pointing out that it would betrayal of trust of their Pakatan Rakyat (PR) allies, not to mention setting in motion the demise of the coalition.

The most erudite of the lot was Hanipa, the party's legal chief and perhaps the one individual who should be an example for Malaysians in this period of bullying and intimidation.

It would have been much easier and rewarding for him to have stuck to the party line offered by Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and the hardliners. But no, he did not choose the easy way out.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that he has stood up to the hardliners in meetings as the crisis over the Selangor MB's position escalated. For more, read the TMI news article, linked above.


Eight and a half years ago I took notice of Mohamad Hanipa Maidin.


In 2006, then-PAS Youth Information Chief Hanipa Maidin came in from the left field when he condemned the Arab model as unsuitable for democracy and modern civilization.

Undoubtedly that condemnation would have been startling for the PAS Arab-philes. It must have been terribly shocking for them to hear one of the party's top Youth leaders declare that Arabs had shown a detestable example, resulting in a negative image of democracy and Islam.

Hanipa declared that the awful Arab archetype had unfairly dragged other Muslims down into the gutter with them. He deduced, quite correctly, that the West perceived (still does) all Muslims through that detestable Arabic prism.

He even blamed the Arab behaviour as the cause for the Europeans deliberately publishing the offensive caricatures on Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Though I did then see his point, I had reckoned his analysis of the cause for Europe insensitively publishing the caricatures might have been a wee over the top.

I had greater suspicions that the ultra Zionists did that, to wit, sponsoring or instigating the publishing of the offensive caricatures on Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), so as to deliberately inflame the easily provoked Arabs in Europe to go on a muddle-headed self-destructive rampage (in Europe) which would frighten, offend and disgust their European benefactors into stopping their annual aid of nearly one billion Euro to the Palestinian Authority.

And sadly, for those stupid lame-headed European Arabs, the Zionists succeeded on this score. The Palestinians suffered, the Zionists and Israeli government were overjoyed.

Anyway, Hanipa didn't stop there and went on to attribute the phenomenon of the terrorist group al-Qaeda to the undemocratic practices of Arab leaders. He was spot on in this assertion, though he neglected to mention that those undemocratic Arab leaders were all (still are) propped up by the USA for the latter's own interests.

Indeed, currently it’s quite painful and very annoying to see those stupid Yanks support Saudi Arabia (for oil of course) while preparing to fight ISIL and (unfortunately) dragging Australia in AGAIN to join in a senseless battle in the Middle-East, but ignoring or 'acting dunno' (closing an eye) to the reality that today’s turbulent violence by ISIL terrorist elements in the Middle East has been directed and financed by Saudi Arabia.

It’s basically a war fermented by the rich Arab state to disrupt, diminish and where possible, destroy Shia influence in the region (Iran, Iraq, etc). For more, read the PressTV news report which informs that ISIL militants confess to direct Saudi links.

Back to our local hero, Hanipa Maidin - Obviously Hanipa had then started (or attempted) to move PAS away from the ultra-conservative right (for Malays-Muslims-only), and its low class brand of campaigning a la the blasphemous 'ticket to heaven' promotion prior to the 2004 general election. His attempted direction for his party appeared to be a more centrist Islamic democracy.

Then I was unclear of what Hanipa had in mind though I had hopefully visualized PAS new politico-religious ideology as one promoting and merging together the noble values of Islam and democracy, and returning to a gold standard a la the enlightened, knowledgeable and tolerant golden age of Islam during the acme of Islamic civilization, but within the practical reality of a modern 21st Century multiethnic multicultural Malaysian civilization.

I though how exciting that would be as it would make PAS more palatable to the non-Muslims and thus a viable alternative to UMNO, and enhance the Islamic party's 2008 campaigning as Malaysians were getting impatient with Ahmad Abdullah Badawi's non-functioning Islam Hadhari.

Hanipa Maidin, Mat Sabu, Nizar Jamaluddin, and the PAS Erdogens – a new breed of Muslim pollies for all Malaysians.

But I had then wondered too whether Hanipa was merely acting on his own accord (or his Erdogen group's accord) as he had radically sembelih (ritually slaughtered) the sacred ‘Arab’ camel, which in itself was a blasphemous act within the Arab-philic PAS.

Anyway, then to further show his democratic credentials and at the same time jab sideways at UMNO's ribs, Hanipa said PAS would not agree to use the Internal Security Act (ISA) against those who published the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) caricatures because the security law was wicked. He said: “Those who insult the prophet are definitely wicked but the ISA is worse and it is a law that has been abused.” 

I admired Hanipa for showing his cool on this lamentable caricature issue instead of behaving moronically like those Arabs who were wont to take to the streets to uselessly burn tires, effigies and Israeli-American flags, or if they had rifles, shoot meaninglessly into the air (wasting bullets for gaya only).

But I did wonder how many PAS leaders had agreed to his cool-headed wisdom?

And then in an amazing show of humility and frankness, Hanipa stated that Muslims in this country should also not assume that all of PAS actions were right, but they need to understand that PAS was a political organization, and sometimes would be forced to act according to its political agenda.

Like currently in Selangor? Wakakaka.

Anyway, he was a clever bloke, no doubt then (2006) covering his behind just in case, in the worst case scenario, some loose cannon in PAS started to sell 'tickets to heaven' again, wakakaka.

On a side issue, in 2006 I did wonder whether that 'salesman' or 'salesmen' had the permission of Allah swt to make such political promises? Aiyah, such would be those 'priesthood caste', as sneeringly mentioned by Kassim Ahmad.

Kassim Ahmad had said: “This priesthood caste did not exist at the time of the Prophet or the four caliphs. They only emerged about 300 years later by appointing themselves as interpreter of religion for Muslims.”

“They (Muslims) view their religious leaders like gods and goddesses, that these leaders are seen to be protected from maksum (protected from sin) and must decide on everything about their lives.”

But back to Hanipa again - Wouldn't we agree that we wouldn't have expected to hear the courageous and appropriately correct anti-Arab criticisms and equally courageous and frank confession of humility (namely, not to assume that all of PAS actions were right) from a PAS leader in a million years, but there you are, Hanipa Maidin did it.

Then, I wondered whether indeed PAS would abandon its unnatural and unhealthy infatuation with all things Arab and Arabic, which to be fair to UMNO, then-Cultural Minister Rais Yatim had already long urged Malay-Muslims to do so.

My thoughts then were that the PAS Turks (Erdogens) might have taken over and adopted a new and more inclusive direction in the party's political campaigning. I believed that would be a wise move as its previous campaign had been directed at the converted when their votes, while not 100% guaranteed, were more or less already assured.

By adopting a new liberal and more inclusive political direction, its campaign could then attempt to win over the yet-to-be converted voters (non-Muslim Chinese, Indians etc) because that's where the additional votes for PAS would have to come from.

I thought, and still do, that if PAS aspired to be the federal government (or at least its backbone), it needed to accommodate the 15% non-Malay bumis and the 35% non-bumis, their beliefs and concerns, before it could convince them that the PAS brand of Islam would not be oppressive or marginalizing.

There was/is no necessity for PAS to ever abandon its central pillar of Islam, but under the Erdogens it would hopefully be an Islam which would preserve the highest compassionate and just values of Islamic democracy, or if you like, democratic Islam without any medieval cruelty in legal punishment [eg. such as chopping off hands, gouging of eyes, whipping, beheading, stoning and misogynous practices].

The additional advantage for PAS in moving towards this direction was that it would maintain the political initiative against UMNO, who would then be forced to play catch up with the leader or leading political light.

And PAS indeed did succeed on 05 March 2008 in winning over, for the first time, significant numbers of non-Muslim vote, with the help of DAP and PKR.

But alas, post 2008 we saw PAS in Kedah forgetting its non-Muslim supporters when it started to interfere with non-Muslims activities and interests in the state (eg. dress codes, koe-tai, abattoir, the (ethnocentric) housing allocation, etc).

PAS in Kelantan wasn't any better in its intrusions into non-Muslim areas of interests in KB (eg. hair dressing salon, two males watching aeroplanes at airports wakakaka, non-Muslim women wearing tight jeans, etc).

Today, the conservative sector in PAS (ulamas and even some youth sections) have behaved badly in the Selangor MB issue, allowing its selfish interests to betray Pakatan coalition consensus, and its concealed but latent-brewing ethnocentric DNA to push aside its self-proclaimed but unpracticed Islamic credentials.

The PAS conservatives seem not to understand that the values of Islam are supra-nationalistic, meaning the values are above race, colour and creed. The ulamas and its youths seem more concerned about ketuanan Melayu, and just how would such an ideology of ethnic supremacy be in accordance with Islamic values?

Its conservative group has reiterated its un-Pakatan go-it-alone mentality by heckling Hanipa and his like-minded brethren at the recent PAS Muktamar. 

Hanipa, Mat Sabu and their Erdogens colleagues could well have been the future of Malay (and thus Malaysian) leadership, and there’s no denying this country still needs/depends on Malay leadership.

As PKR has lamentably shown it's devoid of the required leadership for Pakatan, and DAP still has a long way to go in developing its own Malay leaders, the Malay leadership requirement within Pakatan would have fallen upon PAS.

But PAS ulamas have shown their shameful shortsightedness in allowing their selfish interests, petty paranoia, puerile hubris and ethnocentric DNA to diminish PAS into nothing more than a kampung-or-Kelantan-limited political party.

Sadly, the Malay political leadership will now by default go to UMNO, thanks to Pak Haji Hadi Awang and a badly done rancid satay.

chao tar = overburn and too dry

21 comments:

  1. Not again !
    Trust the moon party no more !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wrong.. Ketum is the problem.
    Your brain cells do not function properly when you consumes Ketum..

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are right - that Malay political leadership will now by default go to UMNO. I agree. It is by default too that UMNO/BN will rule this country forever.

    In PAS, there are Erdogan, Wahabi, Shia, and Ulama. The Erdogan, Wahabi, Shia should leave PAS and join PKR or DAP. Just leave PAS to the Ulama.

    You are right - that PAS is nothing more than a kampung-or-Kelantan-limited political party. You said that PAS will diminish. I disagree - no it would not. It will grow - a gradual organic growth. Its roots will be strong to weather any political storms.

    Ask Hanipa Maidin, Mohd Sany Abdullah, Wan Kharizal Wan Khazim and their ilk to leave PAS and form a new party(PasMa) or join PKR or DAP, and let us see how many PAS members would follow them.

    PAS should leave PR. I do not think PAS should join UMNO/BN. Bite the bullet PAS – do it alone. InsyaAllah, God and the angels shall be with you. Thus, in GE14, perhaps, we could see three main parties competing for the electorate i.e. (i) BN (ii) PAS and (iii) PR. PR would include the Erdogan, Wahabi and Shia who are formerly from PAS. This would give a huge advantage to BN. UMNO dulu, kini dan selama-lamanya.

    PAS is not in a hurry to march to Putrajaya. Perhaps, they are not as aggressive as the Erdogan/Wahabi/Shia. PAS would be contented if they can govern two or three states and have a few MPs in the parliament. PAS know their capacity and limit. They know the “malaysians” would not vote for them. So, don’t you worry “malaysians”: There will be neither hudud nor Islamic State of Malaysia? Not until PAS can form the federal government. To borrow loose74 words - “it will be a nong nong time”.

    PAS ulamas and its conservative members are Sunni - Sunnah Wal Jamaah. Their members are simple and most are even poor people. Well, Prophet Muhammad was simple, poor and frugal too.

    You said PAS support the ideology of ethnic supremacy and ketuanan Melayu: Is this based on fact or anecdotal evidence? Or is this just your low class brand campaigning? When “malaysians” shout “Hidup Malaysia” – that’s ok because they are fighting for their equitable rights. But when “Malaysians” shout “Hidup Malaysia” – that’s not ok because it is ethnic supremacy/ketuanan Melayu. OMG… it sure is tough being a Melayu.

    “Take a bow, Hanipa Maidin, Mohd Sany Abdullah, Wan Kharizal Wan Khazim and their ilk”. That would be the only graceful way to bow out of PAS. Don’t overstay your welcome or else you too may also become rancid like ‘a badly done rancid satay’.

    - hasan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PAS and DAP share one important common cause: to defeat BN.
      Beyond that, they're as incompatible as fire and water (Chinese saying)!
      Divorce now!
      PAS can keep all the 'Erdogans'!

      Delete
    2. To be quashed by non muslims and muslims..........Hahahahaha

      Delete
    3. Lid Zuan Tee Abdoola12:18 am, September 22, 2014

      - hasan : "But when "Malaysians" shout "Hidup Malaysia" - that's not ok because it is ethnic supremacy/ketuanan Melayu. OMG... it sure is tough being a Melayu."

      Oh man! be cool ;-)

      There's no discernible evidence that "m-alaysians" have an issue with "M-alaysians" exulting with "Hidup Malaysia!" Your feeling of disquiet in this instance may be due to your over-active imagination.

      Delete
  4. I have to give due credit to PAS for consistency.
    Over more than 50 years, as the rest of the world around them changed, PAS has steadfastly kept its objective of establishing Malaysia as a fundamentalist Islamic State.

    In the last 8 years or so, it made a tactical move not to emphasise the Islamic State, at least in public.
    As any student of the art of warfare will tell you, a change in tactical direction or even a tactical retreat often has little relationship with any change in Strategy or change in Objectives.

    The Objective for PAS has not, and has never changed, but in recent years, many non-Malays allowed themselves to be deluded, mainly from wishful thinking on their own part.

    The non-Muslims, especially the Chinese who voted for PAS instead of BN in GE12 and GE13 were doing themselves a great disservice.

    The Best option for non-Muslims and non-Malays is still to support Barisan Nasional.

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    Replies
    1. Bravo!! Well done, Kalai ! If BN or UMNO is paying you, they are certainly getting back their money's worth.

      Delete
    2. Nobody "pays" me.
      I run a business. My Customers pay me for goods and services provided. Most of it goes to pay my suppliers, my employees and the Bank loan.

      What's left over I pay myself, sometimes there is very little left over.

      I support BN because, like so many others, I see stable, harmonious BN rule as the best means to ensure the future of Malaysia.

      Isn't the chaos of the last few months in Selangor enough evidence of the utter unfitness of PAS, PKR and DAP to run things ?

      Delete
    3. I run a business too.

      Lately, the business is bad. Real bad.

      Business is way down. Suppliers r on my back constantly for late payments, while debtors r holding up overdued payments. & major part of my saving is used to settle the bank loans. Otherwise, I might need to close shop.

      From most of my business contacts & observations, the current downturns in business environment & confidents have very little to do with the ongoing Selangor crisis. Rather the situation builts up ever since najib comes on board as a real elegant silent PM.

      The soon to be implemented GST doesn't help. & with a run-away national debts hanging over the citizen's mind, everyone is worry.

      Perhaps I'm in the wrong business, while yr kaki-angkat scheme runs wild as long as bn is in power. Yes?

      Delete
  5. Sunnah Wal Jamaah includes ISIS, right ?

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    Replies
    1. I guess you do not know or perhaps have forgotten how ISIS started, right? Please allow me to refresh you a bit in order to put your mind in the right perspective in regard to ISIS. Here we go.

      ISIS started with what was intended by the opposition to be a peaceful demonstration to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. However, the government was ruthlessly suppressing the aforesaid peaceful demonstration.

      Consequently, money and guns and ammunitions from the outside world flowed in to help the opposition. A peaceful demonstration became a revolution and a bloody rebellion. The opposition turned into rebels. The foreigners and humanitarian aid workers joined the rebels. They were supported by seasoned fighters of Afghanistan, Chechnya, and also radicalized western Muslims from America and Europe who actually take over the battle.

      Yes, I agree the rebels are Sunni - Sunnah Wal Jamaah. But with foreign infiltration the rebels have become an extreme deviant group like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. They are now obsessed/possessed with jihad and the apocalypse or the end-of-the-world theology. In Iraq another group of rebels were responsible for the ethnic cleansing of the Christians and the Yazidis.

      ISIS is now being referred as a misguided Sunni sectarian clique or gang. Indonesia and Malaysia and many other Muslim countries have expressed their horror and condemned ISIS. Well, it is a bit late. The damage has been done.
      We do not want ISIS to happen in our country, right? Thus, I would urge that our government must not turn a blind eye on peaceful demonstration. Hence, I would support we should retain the Sedition Act and reinstate the Internal Security Act. Sometimes we have to be cruel in order to be kind. There are always two sides of a story. Try to look from both sides.

      - hasan

      Delete
    2. 'We do not want ISIS to happen in our country, right? Thus, I would urge that our government must not turn a blind eye on peaceful demonstration. Hence, I would support we should retain the Sedition Act and reinstate the Internal Security Act. '

      Typical siege-mentality through & through!

      Hello there, Sedition Act and the Internal Security Act r draconian laws concocted by small-minded people for the fear of been disclosed about their incompetency & using intimidating control for their tyrannic grip on the people at large.

      It works when the people at large r been pre-occupied by fear of authority due to physical intimidation, by ignorance about their individual right under the laws due to limited access to knowledge, by the daily pressure of just to earn a living under difficult market condition etc etc.

      Such scenes have been partially been eliminated due to the wide-spread of Internet. People r more educated & outward looking. Fanatics of both religious & racial-based scores r less likely to congregate & mature into devilish movement like ISIS.

      Any wonder, why fatalistic fanatic movements can still exist in many parts of the less developed places/countries of the world? They can proliferated there, simply bcoz the deficiency of common knowledge & coupled with been with the power (not matter how evil) give them a sense of being somebody, against the harsh reality of their current existence.

      So, the effective way of dealing with this movement is education & wide-spread disclosure of information, of any dominations, so that people can make their choice diligently.

      Peaceful demonstration, is that part of the process for info-disclosure & public education.

      Drilled that into yr sick mind!

      One more thing, intimidating laws would drive these peaceful movements into underground, making them easy prey for insidious individual to take advantages of the situation.

      U read ISIS & yet u dont seem to know that that's how ISIS been manipulated by those top elites, using Islam to achieve their OWN personal interpretation of lives that surrounded them. Foreign helps & influences r just that - foreign. Without the local inputs, anything just remain paper talk, like what u did now!

      M'sia is not yr Syria & Iraq. We have more civilized & intelligent people here for proper discourse. less u!

      Delete
    3. Najib had said at the dinner to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Cheras Umno on June 23, 2014 : “For example, when someone dares to fight to their death, they can even defeat a much bigger team.

      "As proof - whether we agree or not is another matter - the group ISIL with the strength of just 1,300 people, can defeat an Iraqi army of 30,000 soldiers, until four, five generals with three, four stars run for their lives, jump out the window at night.

      "Why? Because they are afraid of those who are brave."

      Delete
  6. I'm a chicken....wakakakaka..

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  7. Tomorrow will be D-Day in Selangor , where Selangor residents and Malaysians in general find out who will be the new Mentri Besar chosen for them.

    In the UK, the last time the Monarch appointed the Prime Minister in fact, (not just formally approve the choice of the Majority of the House of Commons) was 1720 - Robert Walpole. - 294 years ago.

    Today in the UK, it would be considered an overthrow of Democracy if anyone other than the choice of the Majority of the House of Commons was appointed the Prime Minister.

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  8. after ge13, i dun think anyone have any idea how pr can masuk putrajaya. dap is almost at its peak, pkr can perhaps gain more seat in east msia via coorperation. pas ge13 result indicate the support from rural come down, this also imply the influence of ulama in pas subsided, ie the so called progressive gain, thus it is apparent that pr never boost the pas conservative but work the other way round.

    i read exactily the same hasan comment fom an islamist in mt many years back, the moment one change the fundamental idealism of pas, the grassroots might distance themselves. i dun know is this really the case, but i suspact the leader might assume a bigger role. the islamist did mention he dun see how anwar can succeed on what mahathir had failed to achieve referring to msia islam n pas, i dun know what this mean.

    mat saman kati did suggest that pas shd concentrate on 4 states, ie kelantan, terengganu, perlis, kedah n perhaps pahang, let pkr have the rest, i now more or less grasp the rational behind this, but pas did loss terengganu n kedah, ifi pas vblame it on the so called progressive, then how come the voters dont mind giving their vote to umno/bn?

    i think pr have lots of soul searching to do.

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  9. @ Lid Zuan Tee Abdoola

    Likewise, your feeling of disquiet over the Malay supremacy may also be due to your over-active imagination. Internalization and howling of your concern and anxiety over your equitable rights is actually a ‘reverse racism’.

    Perhaps, you will rubbish me and blame me for imagining something that does not exist, eh? Oh you too should cool down Lid Zuan Tee … Please enjoy this video clip.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M

    - hasan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'When “malaysians” shout “Hidup Malaysia” – that’s ok because they are fighting for their equitable rights. But when “Malaysians” shout “Hidup Malaysia” – that’s not ok because it is ethnic supremacy/ketuanan Melayu. OMG… it sure is tough being a Melayu.'

      Let's kill this oft-quoted oxymoron speech (more like blank incoherent lunatic mumbling) once for all.

      Ayanhanda mamak uses it whenever selected dementia sets in. Perkasa shouts loudly about it over their wet dreams. Isma sings it, day & night, as if it's a newly minted M'sianversion of the Quranic surat!

      In fact, almost ALL blur-sotongs, out there in bolihland, hold it up as a gospel truth to their 'struggles'.

      How come?

      Simply bcoz these people don’t (more likely some pretended not to) see deeper into the right context about bolihland racism. Along the way some smart-aleck coined this sentence, terbalik, to turn their critics into defensive!

      Here, is a simple analogy, used in a write-up to ‘bull-shit’ LKY’s claim to the S’pore sovereignty.

      "I was born in this hospital, I developed this hospital, so this hospital will be mine"

      Clear cut, right?

      Wrong! Superficially correct, BUT in the wrong contextual argument.

      1st – who has the right claim to the hospital - the land owner, the developer, or those that born in that hospital?

      It can be easily deduced that those born in that hospital have no right of claimant. U can only give thanks that the hospital is there in the 1st place!

      2nd - it’s obvious that the developer has some limited right, provided (s)he owns the land title. Otherwise, it’s in dispute.

      Now, who’s the land owner? If u claim ownership just bcoz u r the first one to use the land as yr official jamban, then land servitude comes into question. Besides, there is that unanswered question of who’s the first inhabitant that roams that land. That’s how we lost Petra Branca in the ICJ.

      In short, this is looped question that demands analysis in the right contextual logic.

      So, back to that infamous quote that is the fore-runner of attack-is-the-best-defense fallacy of …susah nak jadi org Melayu.

      A simple sentence cant do ANY justice to the whole argument. It’s not yr main main budak!

      Be a growth up. Then put yr thought, if it’s worthy of anything on the paper!


      Delete
  10. It appears BN now supports Palace to have real MB selection power, because it serves UMNO's short term political agenda in Selangor.

    Be careful what you asked for.....

    Are the Malays ready for a return to Executive monarchy ?

    ReplyDelete
  11. For once,listen to the wise old man,Malaysia's master politician and politic's best chess player,Dr Mahathir Mohamad.The doctor said for all to accept the sultan's choice of MB.At this time the favourite is Azmin to inherit the MB'ship.So be it as the man has shown that he is the best of the PKR pack.Azmin has been in the background keeping quite as a church mouse bidding his time, while his opponents tear each others asses apart

    The winner is Azmin,Umno and PAS.Losers are PKR and DAP politicians who backed Mr Manmanlai.This Kajang move fiasco has shown PR gutter politics at it's worst.Laughing out loud is out going MB Khalid,because his sworn enemy Mammanlai 's political career is over and out.Period.

    ReplyDelete