How religion is used to deceive the public

Voters in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar should know the true reasons behind the tabling of the hudud bill.

COMMENT

Umno-Baru, with the help of PAS, is using religion to pull wool over our eyes.

After nominating Mastura Majid to stand in the Kuala Kangsar by-election, Umno-Baru told us that she, being a widow, had to observe the 130-day “iddah” period like someone who is in mourning, never mind that there is no such thing as mourning the dead in Islam.

Anyway, Mastura is conveniently isolated from public view. We cannot badger her about her plans for the constituency, but more importantly about the 1MDB scandal.

In trying to appease the public, Umno-Baru leaders now say they will do everything they can to bring Mastura to the electorate. They have said they would beam images of her onto LED video screens, which they will mount on the back of lorries.

They must be stupid to think we cannot see through the tactics they are using to prevent the press and the public from confronting Mastura with embarrassing questions.

If that was not enough, Umno-Baru sought the help of its silent partner, PAS, to introduce the hudud bill. It did did this as an extra measure to ensure that we would become engrossed in arguments about the pros and cons of being ruled by hudud and forget about the allegations of corruption involving the PM.

You know that it is highly suspicious when a political party helps a rival party to promote its agenda. It was Minister in the PM’s Department Azalina Othman Said who helped force through the hudud bill.

After Azalina pushed the bill to the head of the queue, one would have thought that PAS President Hadi Awang would be euphoric. He would not want to waste any time to get it debated. But what did he do? He asked for a postponement.

Despite his denials, Hadi seems to be in league with Umno-Baru and is conspiring to allow Umno-Baru to win, at least in the Sungai Besar by-election.

Umno-Baru has no real interest in the two by-elections because it is looking ahead to GE14 and planning to regain control of Selangor and Penang.

It is incredible that PKR continues to have ties with PAS in Selangor. How much betrayal can its leaders stand? What will it take to convince PKR that its supporters will leave it in droves if it continues to play footsie with Hadi?

The success of PAS is not an issue in these two-by-elections. PAS is a total washout, and the allegations that it has lost around 200,000 members in one year should be worrying, but it is not at all concerned because Hadi is not focussed on winning.

Hadi’s main objective is to stop Pakatan Harapan from winning the hearts and minds of the electorate, because the opposition coalition’s de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim, is his arch rival.

The tabling of the hudud bill was nothing more than a means to an end. Voters in Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar should be aware of this.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.