PAS wants DAP to explain hudud-blaming for Teluk Intan loss

(Malay Mail Online) – Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat will ask DAP’s Lim Kit Siang to explain recent remarks by a party leader blaming PAS’s hudud agenda for its recent loss in the Teluk Intan by-election.

According to Sinar Harian Online, the PAS spiritual adviser will seek Lim’s explanation when the latter meets with him in Kelantan this Saturday.

“Kit Siang will come here this Saturday, so let’s wait for that day. I cannot speak about this now because he intends to come here this Saturday,” Nik Aziz reportedly told reporters at a function in Kota Bharu last night.

The PAS leader was responding to DAP’s Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo’s claim earlier this week that the Islamist party’s refusal to back down from its hudud bid had contributed significantly to DAP’s loss in Teluk Intan last weekend.

The DAP lawmaker has said in a June 3 statement that the swing in non-Malay votes — estimated to be as high as 25 per cent — was likely a “silent protest” against PAS’s attempt to introduce the controversial Islamic penal code in Kelantan.

Gobind agreed that the low voter turnout during Saturday’s poll was a factor but said to the Chinese of Teluk Intan, the hudud controversy affected their support for Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

“Whilst PAS worked tirelessly with us in DAP throughout the campaign, for which we are thankful, they stood firm even during the period of campaign, that they would eventually push ahead with hudud,” he said.

Gobind added despite being aware of DAP’s stance on the issue, leaders of the Islamist party had expressed their intention to press ahead with the two private members’ bills in Parliament to empower the state to implement its 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II.

“To my mind, this struck deep in the minds of many voters as many do not support hudud and feel that Malaysia must remain a secular nation with full effect given to the Federal Constitution as it stands,” said Gobind.

He said voters “felt misled into supporting PAS” as hudud is not part of PR’s common agenda in the last two general elections.

In the by-election on Saturday, Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Mah Siew Keong won after he took 20,157 votes to DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mod Daud’s 19,919.