It was reported that a religious teacher who had labelled DAP as “kafir harbi” (unbelievers who are hostile to Muslims) and that it was haram (forbidden) for Muslims to vote for Pakatan, as DAP is part of the political coalition received a mock cheque worth RM2 million for his school from the government.
Many modern Islamic scholars, however, have described the term “harbi” as those who spread “corruption” on earth and this is against the teachings of Islam and they are “at war” with Islam with their immoral practices.
Anyway, when will MCA’s turn be to collect its mock cheque worth the same amount for its leader’s ear-splitting rhetoric on hudud?
A political contest
They say religion and race are often politically used to subjugate the people by putting fear in their hearts and minds. In this country’s set-up there are those who use the hudud card to split the Pakatan coalition.
Some UMNO leaders are telling Malays to fear the rise of Christianity or even the threat of the Chinese to Malay supremacy.
Apparently, all these differences of opinion have now become a political contest beyond religion and the unpretentious race relations in the country.
UMNO has now become the laughing stock in the country when its approach to debase the Pakatan coalition using all these political cards has backfired. Their desperate drive to see a split in Pakatan does not seem to work.
UMNO has one filthy habit
UMNO has one filthy habit that will die hard. It is fond of picking up party discards and half-past-six religious spokesmen just before elections and either “pay” or coax them to denounce the Opposition.
But this grubby trick does not seem to work in UMNO’s favour anymore. It could have worked 20 years ago but not with the present populace.
UMNO’s eagerness in overegging the pudding has ended up spoiling its dessert course. Roping in unpopular Mahathir Mohamad to put down the Opposition using the hudud manoeuvre is making matters worse for UMNO. Mahathir has actually become a liability to UMNO.
But Najib Razak, the prime minister, has no say on this man for fear that his position will be made vulnerable. Mahathir is still capable of tossing Najib out as the former is eager to put his son, Mukhriz, on the throne before he leaves this world to meet his Creator.
Despite professing the religion of Islam, it’s always Islam that is used as a must big stick for UMNO to demean its nemeses. However, the “kafir harbi” issue has backfired when the Malays themselves – including many Muslim scholars – have scoffed at this approach to politics.
Facetious and dejected Hassan Ali, the former PAS man who was sacked from the party went on a roadshow using religion to indirectly “demonise” the Christians. He has actually marred UMNO by his immature engagements with the people that he has been chucked out by the latter before more damage is done to UMNO.
And now UMNO is trying to bank on the controversial Nasharudin Mat Isa to disrupt Pakatan. But then Nasharudin is not an asset to either to PAS or UMNO. He is just another foundering politician in the class of Hassan.
Not a religious accord
Hudud or no hudud the people have already decided which coalition to vote for in the next general election. Malaysians – Malays, Chinese, Indians and the Orang Asal – are not blind to the ongoing superfluous political debate on hudud.
They are all aware that it is not a debate on religion that is going on but purely a political ruse to save UMNO and Barisan from the quicksand.
UMNO is using the hudud card to debase PAS; the MCA leader is using the same card to win Chinese support. Karpal Singh, DAP’s national chairman, views the implementation of hudud from the constitutional point of view – that Malaysia is a secular state and not an Islamic state. Thus it will not be proper to execute hudud in a multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia.
UMNO despite having been in power for 55 years is not keen to implement hudud and their soulmate MCA has threatened to pull out from BN if UMNO were to go ahead with the idea.
And to PAS, the issue is simple and clear. Hudud is no doubt an integral part of Islam but the party is not going to implement hudud if there is no consensus among all Pakatan allies and the people in general. PAS only maintains that hudud is part of Islam and no Muslim should refute this fact.
Nevertheless, in PAS’ cooperation with the non-Muslim parties in Pakatan it is not a religious accord that has become the confluence. The alliance is essentially based on common ideals – the universal principles of social justice for the people such as the fight against corruption, abuse of power and to seek social justice for all Malaysians.
The DAP has been clear that the party is not against Islam but only against the idea of having hudud implemented if Pakatan comes to power. Hudud is not Pakatan’s common manifesto and that whatever decision made on any issues relating to hudud must be based on consensus.
Thus the coalition has remained intact much to the chagrin of UMNO and MCA.
Not against Islam as a religion
Embattled UMNO and MCA are hoodwinking the people using the hudud card just to see fissures within Pakatan. This must be the only country in the world where religion is exploited for political power – both by Muslims and indirectly assisted by a non-Muslim entity.
UMNO and MCA can yelp and toy with the hudud issue to break up Pakatan but it looks like their ploy has not dented the cohesiveness of the coalition. MCA is sidesplittingly appealing to the basest fears of the Chinese by telling them that it can save them from PAS’s “Islamic state”.
MCA is actually behaving like a desperate “guinea pig” going hysterical when disturbed by her own figment of imagination, as the party can sense that it will be wiped out in the next general election.
The one man in DAP who has been vocal on hudud is of course Karpal – the prominent lawyer-cum-MP of Jelutong. But he has made it crystal clear that he is not against Islam as a religion. He admits that he is not anti-Islam. He has also said that he is not anti-hudud as part of the Islamic religion.
But as a lawyer he has made it clear that since Malaysia is not an Islamic state constitutionally, hudud cannot be implemented.
Karpal is merely expressing his view from the legal point of view and he is not calling DAP to pull out from the Pakatan coalition. In the case of MCA leader it is the reverse. The beleaguered MCA leader is baying at hudud from his emotional point view and is threatening to pull the party out of Barisan if the latter were to implement hudud.
When Karpal is rational and has based his argument on the facts of law the MCA leader has been erratic, emotional and political in his stance.
A sneaky move
If being anti-hudud means being anti-Islam then Nasharudin should accuse the BN of being anti-Islam as well since none of the component parties including UMNO have endorsed the implementation of hudud.
Perhaps Nasharudin too may just be toying with politics using religion as a big stick to confuse Malays into supporting UMNO and portraying the DAP as being anti-Islam.
Forthrightly, the hudud has got nothing to do with non-Muslims and it is their right to accept or reject it. The constitution for that matter does not speak in terms of an Islamic state but only that Islam is the official religion of this country.
Mahathir, who during his 22-year tenure as prime minister had been responsible for ensuring that PAS-led Kelantan could not pass its Hudud bill enactment, has now invited PAS to join hands with UMNO to implement the Islamic penal code.
PAS will certainly snub such a sneaky move, especially when it comes from a man who was quite pejorative with many negative overtones over hudud when he was the premier.
The Islamic law is recognised as the personal law of Muslims and if Mahathir is in favour of the hudud he should request UMNO to openly propose and endorse it in parliament and not seek the latter to hide behind political discourses or MCA’s skirt.
But for any changes to be made to the Federal Constitution it must be more than a consensus – a two-thirds majority in the parliament and it must also be agreed upon by the King. And this would not happen as the parliament is represented by lawmakers from various ethnic groups.
The point here is clear. Without consensus, there will be no changes to the Constitution. So the issue of hudud here is a mere academic rhetoric and has become more of a political grandiloquence by UMNO, MCA and the mainstream media.
To scare the Chinese
Has MCA shown any respect for Islam? MCA is actually politicising hudud in a negative way to scare the Chinese. The MCA leader has been blunt on numerous occasions citing hudud as a “barbaric” law and no UMNO leader has chastised MCA for this.
Neither have the hundreds of pro-UMNO’s “religious scholars” raised their objection to what MCA leaders have articulated. By virtue of this silence, it can only be summed up to UMNO wilfully wanting MCA to go on using the hudud card for the benefit of Barisan politics.
As Hadi Awang – the president of PAS – pointed out, “when DAP is only against hudud UMNO has rejected it. UMNO must be worse than DAP, so to say”.
From the Muslim perspective, when the non-Muslims are against hudud it could just be attributed to their ignorance of Islam. But when the gambit comes from UMNO this cannot be forgiven as UMNO has Muslims as members.
Bogus Islamic scholars
Failing to see MCA exploiting the hudud issue UMNO has roped in some bogus Islamic scholars to condemn DAP saying that the party is “kafir harbi”. Many genuine and renowned Islamic scholars have denounced this term and the classifications of “dhimmis” (unbelievers who are friendly to Muslims) or” kafir harbi” as concepts of the past that are no more relevant in the present world.
These scholars have come up with opinions that Muslims and non-Muslims can live together harmoniously without having to label the non-Muslims as second class citizens or vice versa. The role of non-Muslims in the global society has been acknowledged by modern Islamic scholars putting extreme religious fanatics as irrelevant anymore.
They have even renounced the kind of hudud treatment employed by some regressive so-called Muslim countries.
When genuine Islamic scholars have made much progress in their thoughts and interpretations of Islam UMNO is still keeping on its payroll nutty “scholars” who are inept, narrow-minded and fanatic – all because of political expedient and not for the love of Islam.
A mere political contest
To the voters they have disposed of the hudud issue as a mere political contest beyond religion. It’s not going to change their minds when it comes to voting.
PAS strategist and MP for Kuala Selangor the learned Dzulkefly Ahmad aptly wrote in his a recent blog posting that, "We are either Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs or others. Islam celebrates religious plurality and acknowledges the ‘claim of exclusivity to its belief and teachings’ and accords a respect to the ‘absolutist doctrine’ of all transcendental religions."
Malaysia Chronicle
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