DIFFERENT races would play different roles in a federal government led by PAS, said Abdul Hadi Awang today.
Departing from his earlier stance last month where he called for the government to be led by Malay-Muslims only, the PAS president today said there would be two cabinets should the Islamist party come into power.
“If PAS rules, it will be divided into two – (one,) a cabinet that decides on national policies. This must consist of people who adopt the national ideology and faith.
“This cabinet will appoint an executive cabinet to carry out the policies and the members can be non-Muslims, appointed based on their expertise,” said the Marang MP during a speech at the opening of PAS’ dialogue with Indian NGOs in Kepala Batas, Penang, today.
The second group would be the technocrats who carry out government policies, he said.
“The technocrats can be from Parliament or the private sector”
Hadi said Islam allowed for non-Muslims to be in the cabinet although Malaysia was a Muslim-majority country.
“This is different from western democracy where if the Democrats win the elections, the cabinet and government officers are only Democrats; the same with Conservative, Republican or Labour party governments.”
During the question-and-answer segment, Hadi said Indians would not be excluded from a PAS cabinet.
“Indians are the next biggest ethnic group after the Chinese. If we governed the country, we must include other races. The government cannot consist of PAS only.
“This is very important in the executive (cabinet). We must respect the expertise of the different races,”
He was responding to a question from Mohan Apparoo of the Malaysian Indian Global Economics Development on whether there was a place for Indians in a PAS federal cabinet.
What about hudud?
Hadi was also asked whether a PAS-Umno government would implement hudud and turn Malaysia into an Islamic state.
Hadi did not supply a direct answer, however. Instead, he listed the benefits of hudud.
“If there is hudud, it will follow what is already provided in the federal constitution or state enactments. But non-Muslims will be given a choice of whether to (be governed by) hudud or civil law.”
But if people understood hudud better, he said, they would choose it over civil law because it was a fair system.
“Hudud does not seek to punish. It seeks to educate by way of instilling fear in people before they commit a crime.”
On whether PAS would implement an Islamic state, Hadi said it depended on the provisions of the federal constitution.
“(The constitution states that) Islam is the religion of the federation while other religions have freedom. As such, we have to interpret Islam from the constitutional standpoint.
“We will look at this later. What is important is not whether we announce it or not, but the fair policies that will be put into place,” said the 70-year-old leader.
Hindu Sangam Penang deputy chairman G Munisaran asked Hadi what he thought of the expansion of religious classes for non-Muslims, the elevation of Tamil language schools from primary to secondary, and the recent landmark M. Indira Gandhi case in which the Federal Court quashed the unilateral conversion of children to Islam.
Hadi said PAS had no issues with mother-tongue education and it would be allowed. He, however, stopped short of saying that it would continued in secondary school education.
On the issue of unilateral conversion of minors, Hadi said there were two schools of thought – Maliki and Hanafi.
“A Muslim child can be given to the non-Muslim mother so long as there is sufficient supervision by the government to ensure the child is brought up as a Muslim. The child has to be taught what is halal and haram according to Islam.
“So in the context of this case, the constitution and state laws have to be harmonised and the Muslim and non-Muslim parents must be brought to a dialogue to see what is best.”
Hindu Sangam’s Munisaran said he wasn’t convinced by Hadi’s answers.
“I didn’t get exact answers to my questions on hudud and the Indira Gandhi issue. After such a lengthy court battle of nine years, she is still facing pressure and threats that the case will be reviewed again,” said Munisaran, at the end of the event.
“As for the hudud issue, we just have to accept his promise that it will not be forced on the non-Muslims. But it is difficult.”
The dialogue session was attended by a dozen Indian NGOs and aired live on the PAS Penang Facebook page.
THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
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