Hindraf is with Karpal on hudud, Islamic state

Hindraf Makkal Sakti feels that more Pakatan Rakyat leaders must speak up against PAS' extreme Islamist stand

GEORGE TOWN: DAP chairman Karpal Singh is the lone voice against PAS’ Islamist stand and this does not auger well for the non-Muslims in the country.

Hindraf Makkal Sakti feels that when other Pakatan Rakyat leaders do not speak up againt PAS, the right of non-Muslims will be pushed aside if the coalition comes into power.

Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy said DAP and PKR leaders’ silence raised suspicions that they would not defend the rights of over 12 million non-Muslim citizens if PAS pushed for an Islamic state.

He said their silence suggested that MCA theory of PAS to establish Islamic theocracy by amending the Federal Constitution with the help of all Muslim MPs from Pakatan and Barisan Nasional could be right.

“Will PKR and Umno MPs vote against PAS Islamist initiatives? It is a million dollar question that only time will answer,” the Hindraf leader told FMT here today.

He said Hindraf like many other concerned NGOs were baffled on why others in DAP and PKR, especially non-Muslim leaders like Lim Kit Siang and his son Guan Eng, were silent on this issue.

“Just imagine if there was no Karpal, no one in Pakatan would be voicing out against PAS.The DAP supremo is the only leader defending non-Muslim rights. Right thinking citizens should back him.

He critised PAS of being fanatical in establishing an Islamic state and introducing hudud law, pointing out that an Islamist agenda was unconstitutional and would rock the very foundation of formation of Malaysia in 1963.

He reminded that freedom of religion and, absolute protection of rights of natives to their own land, religion, culture and custom were among main conditions agreed upon by all parties when Malaysia was formed with merger of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.

He stressed that a “Batu Sumpah Peringatan” in Keningau still existed to emphasis the agreement and declare Sabah as a religious-free land.

The civil rights movement leader said he can’t accept PAS assurance that Islamic laws would not affect non-Muslims because laws of a nation would eventually affect all citizens.

When Article 121 (1) (a) of the Federal Constitution was amended in 1988 to give legitimacy to Syariah law, he recalled that federal ruling party Umno too guaranteed non-Muslims that it would not affect them.

“But today hundreds of non-Muslim families are affected due cases of conversion and body snatching,” Waythamoorthy noted.

“We can’t afford to replace Umno’s racism with PAS religious extremism, which is equally racist in nature,” he said.