Blame Umno for hudud, not Hadi
The bill was at the bottom of the order paper. For it to take precedence over 14 other government bills – only Umno could make this happen.
P. Ramakrishnan, Free Malaysia Today
Those vilifying Hadi for introducing a Private Member’s Bill on hudud are barking up the wrong tree.
In normal circumstances, a Private Member’s Bill coming from the Opposition will not see the light of day. The government would deliberately drag on government bills so that by the end of the parliamentary session there would be no time to consider the Private Member’s Bill. That is how it is killed.
But why Umno did not play this typical political game to ‘kill’ Hadi’s bill is intriguing. There must have been some form of collusion between Umno and PAS to fast-track Hadi’s bill. Has Umno abandoned its Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition partners and decided to form a new alliance with PAS?
The bill was at the bottom of the order paper. For it to take precedence over 14 other government bills – only Umno could make this happen. And it did that through an Umno minister in the prime minister’s department, who moved the motion to bring forward the private member’s bill. And this could only have been done with the connivance of the prime minister.
The question arises, who wants the hudud law to be implemented in our plural society? Is it only Hadi? If so, the bill would not have got where it did without Umno’s support.
But what was unexpected was Umno’s treachery to its coalition partners. Though Umno had never opposed hudud publicly, there was never any inkling that it would facilitate PAS’s attempt to successfully table a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament.
Those who believed in Umno and its previous assurances on hudud were totally devastated by Umno’s conduct – or is it misconduct? They justifiably felt betrayed.
If Tok Guru Nik Aziz had been alive, PAS would not have strayed from the ethical path of righteousness. Tok Guru Nik Aziz was vehemently opposed to working with Umno. With him gone, there was no restraining factor to ensure PAS would keep away from Umno and stick to its true path of justice.
The question then arises, who wants the hudud law to be implemented in our plural society?
Who is pushing for it to be debated earlier than intended?
Why did Umno play the heinous villain’s role, completely discrediting itself?
Umno shamelessly betrayed the component BN parties that have stuck with it through thick and thin; it did not bother to take them into its confidence and inform them of Umno’s decision to allow for the Private Member’s Bill to leapfrog from No 15 to No 1, taking precedence over other government matters.
It did not even call for the BN Supreme Council to discuss this matter. Najib did not disclose his plan to the Cabinet either.
All BN coalition partners were deliberately and wantonly sidelined, marginalised and totally ignored. Najib did not bother about the sensitivities of all these people who had stood by him. They did not seem to matter to him. Apparently, their opinions and views meant very little to Najib.
