'PROVEN LIAR': DAP show minutes of meeting confirming it was Hadi who reneged on Pakatan decision over hudud

DAP today revealed minutes from a previous Pakatan Rakyat (PR) presidential council meeting, where it was decided that any private member's bill by any component party must first be presented to the ‎opposition pact's leadership for discussion.

Revealing this, DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke said PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang – who was present at the February 8 meeting – had clearly gone against the consensus reached at the meeting.

"The decision reached at the meeting was really clear. And this was also agreed by Hadi himself," Loke said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

"But Hadi has gone ahead with the decision to table a private member's bill on hudud by sending a notice to Parliament last week."

It was reported that Hadi was seeking to table a private members' bill in Parliament during the current sitting ending April 9 to enable Kelantan to implement amendments to the state's hudud laws which have drawn outrage from his own Pakatan allies.

His actions drew the ire of DAP and PKR, who have said that they would not support PAS's hudud bill if it was tabled in Parliament as the Islamist party had acted unilaterally in pushing for it, and had gone against the leadership council's decision.

Despite the criticism, Hadi said over the weekend that PAS was still with PR, describing the objections raised by partners DAP and PKR on the Shariah Criminal Code II Enactment amendment as a normal democratic practice.

However, Loke questioned Hadi's sincerity in remaining with the loosely-held coalition, saying that the president of the Islamist party had not kept his promise in keeping to the decision made in the meeting.

"We are really disappointed and saddened. We see him as a respected Islamic leader, that he would keep to his word. But we do not see that happening here. We want to ask him if he is really committed to PR," he said.

The Seremban MP said that the meeting, which was held two days before Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's incarceration, was attended by the top leadership of the three parties in PR.

"We did have a subsequent meeting on March 12 in Parliament but they (PAS) only presented the draft of the proposed changes to the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Enactment 1993, and not the private members bill," he said.

The decision to send a notice to Parliament, Loke said, had also shocked other PAS members, including PAS whip Datuk Mahfuz Omar, who said he was in the dark over the matter.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke

"So clearly, Hadi has done this without any consultation or agreement and in total disregard of the agreement we had reached."

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang suggested yesterday the formation of a “Save Malaysia” coalition, with members from both Pakatan and Barisan Nasional, aimed at defending the Federal Constitution and rule of law.

With both Barisan Nasional and PR facing their own problems and the Malaysian political scene turning into what he described as "no man’s land", the DAP veteran said this could be the right time to set up the new coalition, with a new prime minister and government.

Commenting on Lim's proposal, Loke said that DAP and PKR were waiting for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to make a stand on the controversial Islamic law before making further decisions.

"That is Kit Siang's personal opinion. We want Najib to first state his stand, the stand of Umno and BN over hudud. Then we will decide," he said.

This was earlier echoed by PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli, who said it would only backfire on Najib should the prime minister avoid speaking about it.

"Everything rests on Najib's courage and guts... whether he dares to state his stand or not.

"And if Najib decides to support the implementation of hudud, it will be the downfall on the BN coalition as its component parties have already made their stand on the issue," he said. – TMI