Still hung up on hudud

(The Star) – The hudud issue continues to be a thorn in Pakatan Rakyat as PAS leaders renew their stand to pursue its implementation.

Its secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali said the party could not reject hudud as it was an obligation in Islam.

“As Muslims, we cannot reject hudud. We have already stated this but DAP disagreed.

“I will say this clearly, our differing views on this remain. We respect DAP’s view, but we must do our Islamic obligation,” he said when met after chairing the Pakatan Rakyat council of secretaries meeting here yesterday.

However, Mustafa conceded that any move to implement hudud must be done with consensus and according to the law.

“Implementation of hudud requires two-thirds majority in Parliament for amendments to be made to the Federal Constitution, something which is unattainable at the moment.”

At present, he said only the PAS-led state government of Kelantan had enacted hudud laws with similar provision enacted for Terengganu when the state was previously under PAS administration.

Meanwhile, MCA national organising secretary Datuk Tee Siew Kiong described the denial by Johor PAS commissioner Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed that PAS would abandon its dreams of implementing hudud as claimed by DAP national chairman Karpal Singh as a “huge slap in the face” for DAP leaders.

“It has become obvious that DAP’s lies on PAS abandoning its agenda is only wishful thinking,” he said.

Mahfodz, who is also PAS syura member, had insisted on Monday that having Islamic laws and setting up an Islamic state remained high on PAS’ agenda.

DAP international secretary Liew Chin Tong admitted that there were differing views on hudud within Pakatan, thus making it impossible for it to be included into the grouping’s common policy framework.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua did not state the party’s stand but instead accused MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong of bringing up the issue to fish for votes.

Wee had challenged key DAP and PKR leaders on Monday to state their stand on hudud and to publicly chastise PAS over its plan.