DAP slams PAS for ‘twisting facts’, insists hudud Bills never discussed

(Malay Mail Online) – DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo accused PAS today of glossing over the truth when it claimed his party had been briefed in the past about hudud, pointing out that previous discussions never touched on specific plans for its implementation in Kelantan.

In a statement, the Puchong MP said PAS assistant secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan was merely “twisting facts” on the issue as the Islamist party’s hudud Bills for Kelantan were never presented to the DAP or the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) presidential council.

“Let me be very clear about it. PAS has never shown us or briefed us about the details of the hudud bill they intend to table in Kelantan on 18.3.2015, nor the private members bill they intend to table in Parliament to make way for hudud in the months to come,” he said, referring to the Kelantan legislative assembly sitting scheduled for March 18.

“In fact,” Gobind added, “PAS even refused a request by opposition leader (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim that a copy of the bill be shown to us about a month ago.”

The first time PAS briefly discussed the Bills was during PR’s last leadership meet just over two weeks ago, the DAP national legal bureau chairman said.

During the February 8 meeting, PAS was reportedly told by PR leaders to present the Bills to the council before pushing ahead with plans to table them at Kelantan’s next assembly sitting or in Parliament.

“Takiyuddin shouldn’t twist the facts. We are talking about specific bills here, not general discussions about hudud,” Gobind said.

He maintained that should PAS insist on tabling its hudud Bill next month, the party would be seen as working against its partners and allies in PR, which he said never agreed with the Islamic penal code in its common policy framework.

Any party that acts against the pact’s agreed objectives would ultimately be isolating itself from it, Gobind added.

“You cannot say you are committed to the goals of a particular organisation and do something which is directly opposed to it,” he said.

“If it comes to that, you would be seen to be parting ways with the organisation. It would appear then, that you are no longer part of that organisation.”

On PAS’s logic that its PR partners have “agreed to disagree” on hudud, Gobind said the phrase means that although the pact’s parties may disagree on certain ideas, they would not implement policies deemed as inconsistent with their common objectives.

Unilaterally pushing for a policy not enshrined in PR’s framework would ultimately turn the agreement into a non-starter, the lawmaker said.

Although PAS has yet to receive a formal nod from its PR partners PKR and DAP, its leaders have insisted on tabling amendments to Kelantan’s state law on hudud during the next legislative assembly sitting on March 18.

DAP leaders have insisted that PAS will risk ostracisation by PR if it proceeds with the controversial plan as hudud was never included in the pact’s common policy framework.

But yesterday, Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah reportedly disagreed with the DAP’s assertions, pointing out that the state enactment on hudud was passed back in 1993, even before PR’s existence.

PKR, PAS and the DAP only firmed up their partnership under the PR umbrella after the watershed 2008 general election that saw the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) lose its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament.