‘MCA may need to discuss about leaving BN’
(Rakyat Post) – At a forum titled “Hudud: Are We Ready” held at the Sultan Muhammad V auditorium of the Karangkraf Group Complex here today, MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said that the party may need to discuss the possibility of leaving Barisan Nasional (BN) should Umno allow the private member’s bill on hudud to be passed in Parliament.
“If Umno allows the hudud bill to be passed in Parliament, MCA and other component parties will have to sit down and discuss if we need to leave BN.
“We will definitely consider leaving the coalition. We will also bring this matter up during the next BN supreme council meeting. Our president has been very clear and firm on our stand to the PM.”
He said there could not be two sets of laws in Malaysia, one secular and one Islamic.
“There will be all kinds of problems that will arise. We are a mixed society that has upheld the Federal Constitution since our forefathers time, and that had included being governed by secular laws.
“There will be many questions raised. If, for instance, a crime is committed by two offenders, a Muslim and non-Muslim, how do you punish them under two different law systems? Would it be fair for one to receive heavy punishment when he steals (amputation of hand) and the other receive lighter punishment (2 months’ jail sentence)?
“What will happen if a non-Muslim is raped by a Muslim? Must she still find 4 witnesses to charge the rapist? These witnesses must be male Muslim men, which robs the rights from non-Muslims and women in the country.”
He said people should not think that just because MCA rejected PAS’ hudud, it means that the former is anti-Islam.
“The two don’t correlate as we have always defended that Islam is the official religion of the land. MCA will do all it can to uphold the Federal Constitution of Malaysia that would not allow for hudud to be implemented,” he said.
The forum, organised by Malay daily Sinar Harian, included panelists like academician and former mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and Wasatiyah Institute of Malaysia deputy director Dr Mushaddad Hasbullah, who both agreed that Muslims must defend hudud but must also consider if the society in Malaysia was “conducive” for such Islamic laws to be implemented.
Mohd Asri said the day Malaysia was ready to implement hudud would be the day it was ready for everyone in the country, including VIPs and royalty, to be subjected to the Islamic laws.
“That was the way Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) implemented it. Hudud can’t be implemented when there are still people who are above the law,” he said.
