Hudud – maybe when hell freezes over

Ex-Convent Girl

Going with my gut, I voted for the opposition in 2008 and 2013. This is how I had always voted (influenced by my God fearing parents, no doubt) and together, we helped deliver victory to DAP in our constituency despite the endless potholes dotting our streets, the uncollected garbage spilling from our bins and the traffic congestion that got worse by the year.

My intentions before were simple enough – the ruling government needed a strong opposition to keep them in check. My bosses at work echoed that sentiment.

However, 2008 and 2013 were different. PAS was part and parcel of a coalition with DAP and PKR against the corrupt Barisan Nasional. While I am not a fan of Anwar Ibrahim and generally feel all politicians are dirt-bags to begin with, I was still willing to put PKR or DAP in power. But PAS?

I do believe PAS politicians engage in less wheeling and dealing. I do believe they are less corrupt, more sincere and less ruthless than their counterparts in DAP and PKR. But PAS is synonymous with hudud law and that in itself, is a terrifying prospect.

In going about their business to win votes, Pakatan politicians deftly ducked the issue of hudud law. The prize was Putrajaya and the modus operandi was “get there first, talk later”.

While they haven’t quite made it to Putrajaya, Pakatan Rakyat is made to deal with the reality of hudud, now rather than later.

Come June this year, PAS intends to table a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament on hudud law in Kelantan. For those like me who gave Pakatan our vote, this is a lesson that the politics of today is far more dangerous than it has ever been.

For starters, two-timing, fast-talking Anwar is on the loose. Never believe a word he says today for he will only wake up tomorrow with zero recollection of it. For some reason, even video clips or press statements proving otherwise have little effect on him. Onward must he march throwing more rhetoric to the masses and promptly forgetting it once his head hits the pillow.

Even as religious tension intensifies in the heat of the hudud debate, PKR has elected to remain silent. How ironic that the party’s de facto leader Anwar, only recently seen singing, prancing on stage and realising his inner comedian during the Kajang by-election, is now slinking away into the darkness like the cat’s got his tongue.

DAP too is disappointing. Many a time have the two Lims left the late Karpal in the lurch… a lone figure speaking out against hudud or other political injustices. It took Karpal’s untimely death for the two dictators to finally make a stand against the implementation of hudud.

To be honest, the only one looking like the Cheshire Cat in this entire drama is the man we all love to hate – our PM, Najib. In a recent press statement, Najib plainly says, “The government has never rejected hudud as Allah’s Law, but there are so many issues that need to be solved before the law can be fully implemented in the country.”  Translated that means…. ya, like hell hudud will EVER be implemented in Malaysia.

I do believe that as long as Barisan Nasional stays in power, we are free from the shackles of hudud law. Of course, their tendencies to engage in corrupt activities and to spend needlessly and lavishly will continue to irritate us no end.

However what can the opposition offer us?

PAS is the monkey on the back of Pakatan Rakyat. As long as reckless leaders like Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng run the show, hudud will haunt us. We must acknowledge that the coalition we are backing is flawed with differing ideologies, continuous in-fighting, dictatorial leaders and a propensity to be arrogant to the point of stupidity.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders should be humble enough to realise that they are in power, not because they are visionaries leading us out of the dark ages into a world of equality and compassion. They are in power solely because of the people’s collective dissatisfaction with Barisan Nasional.

If Pakatan Rakyat is serious about taking over Putrajaya and putting the prospect of hudud to rest once and for all, they had better do some serious soul searching and reconsider who their political foes and partners really should be.

For now, hudud is probably averted.