Lim calls Umno’s hudud bluff, says it’s purely to split Pakatan
(Malay Mail Online) – All Umno aim to achieve by claiming support for rivals PAS’ push for hudud in Kelantan is the break-up of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, Lim Kit Siang said today amid souring ties within the federal opposition.
The senior DAP leader said the nascent PR pact is at its lowest ebb at the moment, which has presented opportunities to “plotters and strategists” in Prime Minister and Umno President Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s camp to set PAS against its partners.
Lim claimed that the situation is so dire for PR that their continued survival has become an immediate and pressing issue, as is the case for Najib ― who is currently under pressure to resign over Putrajaya’s handling of the 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) fiasco.
“The two issues Najib’s plottters and strategists have used to ‘dangle, divide and destroy’ Pakatan Rakyat are the issues of UG (Unity Government) ― not Malaysian unity but Malay unity government of UMNO and PAS ― and the implementation of PAS’ Kelantan hudud enactment.
“But Najib’s choice is clear when he had to choose between holding support of BN’s 48 MPs in Sarawak and Sabah or wooing PAS’ 21 MPs,” Lim said in his speech at a DAP Gawai gathering in Mas Gading, Sarawak, last night.
The Gelang Patah MP claimed that the prime minister cannot afford to antagonise MPs from the two East Malaysian states, since support from the Sabah and Sarawak MPs ― most of whom are backbenchers ― is needed to keep the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition in power.
“Under the circumstances, it is no surprise that PAS President’s private member’s bill motion has not even appeared on the parliamentary order paper for the current parliamentary meeting!” Lim said.
Last April, PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang submitted two private member’s Bills to Parliament to remove legal obstacles preventing the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan.
The bills were submitted after the Kelantan state assembly approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from Umno.
The Islamist party’s hudud plan has drawn hostile responses from allies PKR and DAP, with the open discord sending the pact into a crisis that has senior leaders already bracing for its disintegration.
With MPs from its Pakatan Rakyat partners expected to vote against the bills if the Dewan Rakyat decides to allow them to be tabled, PAS will have to rely on support from Umno ― which holds the lion’s share of parliamentary seats ― to see the bills through.
