For Pas, hudud is paramount, with or without its ‘friends’
Taking into account that both PAS and DAP had ‘agreed to disagree’ over hudud, there should be no issue for as long as PAS does not propound its ideals on the Pakatan Rakyat platform. But this is easier said than done.
Zubaidah Abu Bakar, The Rakyat Post
PARTI Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) is not about to compromise on its agenda to implement hudud or syariah criminal laws in Kelantan, the state the Islamist party has been governing since 1990.
Hudud is an agenda that PAS has never, for once, hid from the public, especially in Kelantan.
The party had made known its intention of implementing hudud in its election manifesto at every general election and still, Kelantan voters, including non-Muslims, returned the party to power in every general election held during the last 24 years.
There has been a lot of public discourse on hudud, especially when the PAS government was about to table the Kelantan Syariah Ciriminal Code Enactment II in the state legislative assembly in 1993.
This was successfully passed but could not be implemented due to conflicts with the Federal Constitution.
PAS is now very serious in wanting to seek amendments to the Federal Constitution through tabling of a private member bill in Parliament.
A series of discussions have been held at the technical, state and federal levels to facilitate implementation.
The party appears more committed now than ever before to realise its dream, paying little heed to the unyielding resistance from its partners in Pakatan Rakyat nor warnings of a possible break-up of the coalition.
PAS seems to have forgotten the hudud backlash in past general elections.
Warning PAS, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang came out strongly to remind the party of the electoral losses in GE11 in 2004 after Terengganu passed the Syariah Criminal Offences (Hudud and Qisas) Bill in 2002 , when PAS was in power in the state.
The Gelang Patah Member of Parliament also noted that both PAS and PKR suffered losses, losing seven out of eight parliamentary seats and retaining just four out of 28 state seats.
Lim pointed out that both parties also failed to regain ground in GE12 because of PAS’ continued focus on hudud in its manifesto for Terengganu.
It was only after the issue was toned down within the Pakatan Rakyat framework that PAS and PKR managed to win four out of the eight parliamentary seats and 15 out of the 32 state seats contested in Terengganu in GE13 last year
For PAS leaders, hudud predates Pakatan Rakyat, the loose pact PAS had entered into with the DAP and PKR soon after GE12 in 2008 to enable them to jointly govern five states that Barisan Nasional failed to win, and therefore PAS should be allowed to pursue its dream on its own.
It’s an irony. How could this possibly happen without affecting the coalition?
Taking into account that both PAS and DAP had “agreed to disagree” over hudud, there should be no issue for as long as PAS does not propound its ideals on the Pakatan Rakyat platform.
But this is easier said than done. It is not easy, and getting more difficult today, to keep to such an agreement without straining the relationship under Malaysia’s volatile political atmosphere.
DAP strongly opposes hudud while PKR is non-supportive.
PKR, although less vocal against PAS’ insistence to pursue its dream of implementing an Islamic system of government, which includes hudud, could imagine the kind of destructive force befalling the parties’ alliance.
Given the sensitivity of the issue among Malaysians, especially the non-Muslims who are Pakatan Rakyat supporters, it is a matter of time before PAS’ continued insistence on implementing hudud would turn destructive for Pakatan Rakyat.
It is public knowledge that PAS and DAP have long been at loggerheads over Islamic laws and it was the Islamic state which led DAP to abandon “Barisan Alternatif”, the coalition formed by the two parties, also with PKR, to contest the 1999 general election.
DAP and PKR leaders were caught off guard when Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob announced that the State Legislative Assembly was to hold a special sitting at the end of the month to discuss and pass amendments to the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code II to facilitate implementation of hudud in the state.
PAS’ sudden push for a special sitting at a time when Pakatan Rakyat is earning political brownie points over the controversial 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) issue raised eyebrows since the political spotlight is being shifted to the issue of hudud.
PAS had decided in May to postpone the tabling of a private bill in Parliament to allow the joint technical committee between Kelantan government and Putrajaya to come out with proposals.
Since PAS is unlikely to get the support of its allies sitting in Parliament, it is banking on MPs from Umno and other Muslim MPs to get the minimum 112 votes to push through the amendments.
One can imagine what will happen to Pakatan Rakyat should this happen.
