Pakatan Rakyat agrees to disagree on Hudud

(Harakah Daily) – Pakatan Rakyat component parties will not be trapped by the “desperate” political game of Umno and Barisan Nasional to drive a wedge on its unity over the issue of the implementation of the Islamic criminal law of Hudud in Kelantan.

The three leaders from the component parties namely Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KeADILan) de facto leader Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Dato’ Seri Abdul Hadi Awang  and DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said the people were wise enough to evaluate for themselves on the current situation.

In a joint statement Apr 28, they said a Pakatan Rakyat leadership council had agreed to stress out that the cooperation and the main objective of the Pakatan Rakyat components parties in the last general election were to rebuild pillars of the state being eroded by BN rules in decades past.

They pointed out that the cooperation is based on the concept of justice for all, good governance, accountability, transparency and compentency for public good.

They said the meeting had acknowledged to abide by common policies previously agreed in accordance to the Constitution, the Common Policy and those contained in the Orange Book.

“Pakatan Rakyat will continue to strengthen our political will to increase economic competition, the public income, the quality of education, health and working to handle rising cost of living,” they said.

The leaders also agreed to respect the differences in ideologies between political parties in Pakatan Rakyat within a democratic cooperation, including PAS stand on the implementation of the Islamic criminal law of hudud.

The meeting also acknowledged the Islamic Criminal Offence II Enactment in Kelantan 1993 and Terengganu Islamic Criminal Enactment 2003 prior to the formation of Pakatan Rakyat.

“Keadilan and PAS respected the differences of opinion by DAP on  this matter,” they added.