DAP stopping PAS from raising hudud in Selangor, says exco

(Malay Mail Online) – DAP executive councillors are all that is standing between PAS and the possibility of the Islamist party bringing up hudud in Selangor, Sungai Pinang assemblyman Datuk Teng Chang Khim said today.

Responding to calls from delegates for the DAP to quit the Selangor government, Teng downplayed the friction in the state’s ad hoc coalition government between DAP, PKR and PAS, saying it did not deserve to be called a “crisis”.

“It is easy to say that we should quit the government. But will this solve the problem? Will this force PAS to quit the government too?” said Teng during the Selangor DAP ordinary convention.

“If tomorrow we quit, then PAS will be happier. Our three seats, they will ask for one more, and PKR will ask for two more, but we will be left with no representative.

“If we quit, it will be easy for them to speak about hudud. With Hannah Yeoh, they can’t bring up hudud. With Ean Yong, they can’t bring up hudud. With Teng Chang Khim, they can’t bring up hudud,” he added.

Yeoh is the Selangor state assembly speaker, while both Yong and Teng are excos in Mentri Besar Azmin Ali’s administration.

Teng said it is not a major problem even if there is no formal coalition governing Selangor, after Azmin shot down the formation of a Pakatan Harapan government.

“We call it Pakatan Harapan, PAS still calls it Pakatan Rakyat. So why don’t we just call it Pakatan Harapan Rakyat for now?” asked Teng.

Pakatan Harapan comprises the DAP, PKR and PAS splinter group Amanah. Both the DAP and Amanah are in conflict with PAS, but PKR has maintained ties with the Islamist opposition party as well as with the DAP and Amanah.

Teng also said that PKR, DAP and PAS executive councillors have no problems with each other at state meetings to provide for the people, even when some are at loggerheads in public.

In June last year, Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Sungai Air Tawar assemblyman Kamarol Zaki Abdul Malik had submitted for a debate to study the possibility of enforcing hudud in Selangor.

The proposal on the Islamic penal code was later withdrawn following uproar from BN component parties at the federal level.