Declare anti-hudud stand to Cabinet, DAP tells new Chinese ministers

(Malay Mail Online) – Putrajaya’s three newly-elected Chinese ministers should declare their position on hudud and Malaysia’s status as an Islamic or secular state when the Cabinet sits next Wednesday, the DAP said today.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said it is pointless for the trio, who are members of MCA and Gerakan, to oppose the Islamic law outside the government but fail to raise the matter now that they have earned themselves positions of power.

“What is the point of becoming a Cabinet minister if they remain silent and dare not speak up in Cabinet meetings what they had loudly opposed outside in the press?

“All three new MCA and Gerakan Cabinet ministers should then report to the public whether they raised up these issues and what is the Cabinet’s decision,” he said in a statement here.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the inclusion of three new ministers into his Cabinet – MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and deputy president Datuk Wee Ka Siong, and Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong.

Liow was appointed Transport Minister while Wee and Mah were made ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, with their portfolios to be determined later.

Both MCA and Gerakan have been steadfast in their rejection of proposals to implement hudud in the country, arguing that the Islamic penal code violates the rights of the country’s religious minorities.

Their leaders have also insisted that Malaysia is a secular state, as the Federal Constitution was drafted to safeguard the rights of all races and religions.

In Islamic jurisprudence, hudud covers crimes such as theft, robbery, adultery, rape and sodomy.  Punishments for the crimes are severe, including amputation, flogging and death by stoning.

Malay-Muslim activists in support of the hudud implementation have argued the enforcement of hudud is in line Article 3 in the Federal Constitution, which states that Islam is the religion of the federation.

Opponents argue, however, that hudud cannot be carried out in Malaysia as Islamic law is applicable only on Muslims and if enforced, would run counter to other fundamental provisions in the constitution, namely Article 8, which prescribes equality before the law for all, regardless of their religious beliefs.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang went further to say that Liow, Wee and Mah should also demand that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom retract two recent parliamentary statements – his claim that Malaysia is not a secular state, and secondly, his statement that the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government was prepared to assist the Kelantan government to implement hudud in the state.

He said the trio could rely on the recent argument on the issue raised by Jagir Singh, the president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST), who had said historical evidence and provisions in the Constitution should dispel any doubts that the nation’s founding fathers had intended for Malaysia to be a secular, not an Islamic state.

“They can do no worse by quoting Jagir Singh’s cogent reasoning that a secular state does not mean that religion and the state were completely separate,” Kit Siang said in a statement here.

Quoting Jagir, the DAP lawmaker said Malaysia can still be described as a secular country with Islam as the religion of the federation but where Islam does not form the country’s basic laws.

The Federal Constitution, which recognises all faith followers, is deemed the supreme law of the land and not the Shariah law, Kit Siang said, again quoting the interfaith group’s chief.

“As such,  hudud should not be implemented in the country as it would undermine the consensus reached between the different communities, as well as the Constitution and fundamental rights, including freedom of religion,” he said.

On a separate matter, Guan Eng also urged Liow, Wee and Mah to demand an apology from Umno’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for two recent remarks he made, which were deemed insensitive – when he labelled the Chinese ungrateful during the recent Teluk Intan by-election and yesterday’s remark calling Penang lawmaker RSN Rayer a “loose cannon”.