Guan Eng calls on Pakatan partners to honour spirit of consensus
(The Malaysian Insider) – Following the death of PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat and the imprisonment of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, DAP has urged all three parties in the opposition coalition to safeguard the pact’s unity and principle of consensus.
Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the contributions of Nik Aziz and Anwar towards establishing Pakatan Rakyat must be remembered.
“We must continue their efforts to promote and sustain the coalition based on the principle of consensus on accepted common principles,” he said in a statement today, outlining the resolutions passed by the DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) at its meeting yesterday.
Lim’s statement comes on the heels of a pledge by PAS president last night to press ahead with the implementation of hudud in Kelantan, saying it was to continue Nik Aziz’s struggle.
Hadi wrote on his Facebook page that the party will go ahead with the proposal to amend the Syariah Criminal Code II 1993 to enable hudud to be enforced in PAS-ruled Kelantan.
Lim also called on all PR members to “sacrifice any further action that had failed to secure such consensus of all three parties.”
With the loss of the two leaders, there are concerns over how much longer the opposition coalition can last with PAS and DAP at loggerheads over hudud and local government elections.
Hadi’s statement is seen as a rejection of DAP’s objections against the hudud and its parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang’s call for it to be deferred to 2023.
On Thursday, Kit Siang proposed that local government elections and hudud be deferred until 2023 in order to save PR and prevent it from splitting up.
“I suggest that we put the issues we cannot agree about for another eight years.
“Regardless whether the issues are raised by PAS, DAP or PKR, we should defer them if we cannot reach an agreement,” he said.
Lim also said the DAP CEC would continue to stand by Anwar.
