DAP: PM Najib has 'flip-flopped' on hudud

The DAP has slammed Putrajaya for "flip-flopping" on the implementation of hudud law in Kelantan, following Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's apparent willing to meet the Kelantan government on the matter.

 

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today told reporters that Najib should take heed from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's position that Malaysia is not ready for hudud. 

 

"However BN under Najib has now publicly lauded proposals made to implement hudud law and was willing to meet PAS to discuss this," said Lim, who is also Penang chief minister.

 

He was referring to Najib's statement yesterday that the federal government had never rejected hudud as the divine law.

 

However, Najib had a caveat to this statement, adding that that many issues and obstacles needed to be addressed before the Islamic law could be implemented in this country.

 

This is a departure from his statement in 2011, where he rejected the idea of hudud outright.

PAS recently planned to propose a Private Members Bill to obtain Parliament's approval and overcome legal hurdles in implementing the Islamic law in Kelantan.

 

Lim, who rarely concurs with Mahathir, said the former premier is correct in maintaining his stand that it would not be fair to have different penalties between Muslims and non-Muslims for the same offence.

 

Mahathir had adopted the stance when he was PM from 1981 to 2003 where he had refused meeting PAS to discuss the issue and had yesterday reiterated the same, Lim said.

Will MCA stand up to Umno?

 

He ticked off MCA president Liow Tiong Lai for blaming the DAP for PAS' insistence on implementing the law in Kelantan despite the party's "clear and consistent policy" against the issue.

 

Lim said Liow had blamed the DAP but dare not address the change in position, policy and principle of federal government led by Najib compared to Mahathir.

 

"Liow should not think that signing anti-hudud law agreements with pro-BN Chinese-based organisations and BN control of the mainstream media can cover-up the lies, hypocrisy and double-standards of MCA.

 

"The Internet is abuzz with questions asking why Liow dare not take Najib to task for this flip-flop and whether MCA accepts the new BN government position on hudud adopted by Najib," Lim added.

 

Lim also questioned why MCA did not criticise Umno state assemblymen in Kelantan and Minister for International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamad for supporting the implementation of the hudud law as DAP had done when it criticised both PAS and Umno over the matter.

 

He reiterated that unlike BN, Pakatan Rakyat's common policy platform in 2008 and 2013 general election manifesto does not include the implementation of the hudud or the establishment of the Islamic state. 

 

This has been agreed to by all the component parties of PAS, PKR and DAP in Pakatan, Lim said, adding that Pakatan's position has not changed because DAP's position in opposing the implementation of the hudud has not changed, Lim said.