ALOR STAR, MALAYSIA: He's done it again.

Pas spiritual leader and Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat said Umno members were orang utans who do not know Islam or anything about the law.

Speaking after attending a Pas rally at the party headquarters in Kota Sarang Semut, Pedang, on Saturday night, Nik Aziz dared journalists to print his comments.

"You just write what I have said because orang utans don't know anything but lust (nafsu)."

His comments were greeted with nods of approval and chuckles from Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, and his deputy, Nasharuddin Mat Isa.

Nik Aziz had made such outrageous statements before, as had Hadi, who decreed in the early 1980s that Umno members were infidels. Hadi has never retracted the statement.

In 2004, during the heat of campaigning, Hadi irked Malaysians when he said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was not a good Muslim because he was not the imam at his mother's funeral and that he (Abdullah) was only interested in leading prayers for political gains.

Nasharuddin has also ridiculed Umno leaders before. In the late 1990s, he told a ceramah in Kedah that he had refused to be a member of a congregation in a prayer led by former Umno secretary-general Tun Khalil Yaakob. He led the Umno leaders in prayer instead.

Pas has always professed to be the torchbearer of "true Islam" in the country.

On Saturday, Nik Aziz was asked to clarify his "orang utan" remarks. He replied that orang utans knew nothing about Islam and the Quran.

He accused Umno of rejecting Islam and the Quran, which meant its members were, by default, orang utans.

"Pas is not facing a political party in the coming general election but orang utans who do not know religion or the law."

Pressing on the argument against Umno further, Nik Aziz claimed that Umno had tried to bribe Pas assemblymen in Kelantan to cross over in an effort to topple the Pas-led Kelantan government.

Pas has a single seat majority in the 45-member state legislative assembly.

"Just last month, one of our assemblymen was enticed with several million ringgit. He thought long and hard about it but decided to remain with us," Nik Aziz claimed.

Meanwhile, Hadi said Pas would contest in about 60 parliamentary seats and 200 state seats in the general election.

He said almost 50 per cent of the candidates would be new faces.

The party is expected to announce its list of candidates on Feb 21.