DON'T LIE HADI AWANG! Gobind takes PAS chief to task over HUDUD

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang should not attempt to twist the truth in claiming that the PR Leadership Council had agreed to PAS’ intention to implement hudud in Kelantan.

This claim is totally untrue. The common agenda of Pakatan Rakyat signed by Hadi himself clearly excludes hudud. In addition to this, the DAP has always made it crystal clear that it is totally against hudud as it is unconstitutional and unsuitable in a multiracial country like ours.

PAS cannot now twist the facts and try to justify the push for hudud in Kelantan. Quite apart from the fact that it clearly violates the Federal Constitution, PAS ran its campaign without saying at all that it would implement hudud in Kelantan or elsewhere. This is significant as they pulled in the votes on the combined strength of Pakatan Rakyat on the basis that hudud was never part of its agenda.

PAS has now by raising this issue demolished its goodwill amongst the people who supported it in the last elections believing that it would abide by the 2011 agenda. Whether or not PAS pushes on to table the bill, whether or not the bill if tabled will succeed is another matter. The fact that PAS has thought it fit to table it and to come up with statements like these, that PR agrees with it, is in itself sufficient to destroy the trust not only the people has placed in it but also that of its partners in Pakatan Rakyat. The damage has clearly been done.

If the report is untrue, I call upon Dato Seri Hadi to correct it immediately. If it is true, then perhaps PAS should seriously reconsider the relevance of its continued existence in Pakatan Rakyat.

The DAP will not sit back. We will defend to the hilt the Pakatan Rakyat agenda which does not include hudud as this formed the basis of the campaign in the General Election. This we have always done and without a shadow of doubt will continue to do.

GOBIND SINGH DEO IS THE MP FOR PUCHONG