Kit Siang threatens to boycott Pakatan meetings if PAS pushes hudud

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang says if PAS-led Kelantan is adamant about amending its Shariah enactment, he will no longer attend Pakatan Rakyat leadership council meetings. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, December 24, 2014.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang is threatening to boycott any future Pakatan Rakyat leadership council meetings if ally PAS still pushes ahead with its plan to implement hudud.

The veteran leader said if PAS-led Kelantan was adamant in convening next Monday’s special assembly sitting to amend its Shariah enactment, then Lim – who has all along been against the Islamist party’s plan to enforce the Islamic penal code – did not see any reason to attend any future meetings. 

"If the Kelantan assembly special meeting to push through the implementation of hudud, which even the PAS central committee is unaware of, is held, I see no purpose in my attending any future Pakatan Rakyat presidential council meetings, and I leave it to the party to decide on its next course of action," Lim said in a statement today.

The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday that PAS's top leadership were taken by surprise over the east coast state’s decision as the matter was not discussed at its last central committee meeting.

The CC meeting took place a day before Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob's announcement that the state assembly would convene a special sitting on December 29 to amend its Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II as part of a move to pave the way for a private member's bill in Parliament to enable the state to enforce the Islamic penal code.

Lim said today the special sitting could cost the Islamist party the state and Pakatan Rakyat’s dream of taking over Putrajaya in the next general election, expected to be called by 2018.

"I am not sanguine that the Kelantan assembly special sitting on December 29 can guarantee that PAS will be returned to power in the next general election, as what could be sacrificed as a result of PAS reneging on its undertaking to PR and Malaysian voters would be both Putrajaya and the Kelantan government.  But we have to await the 14th general election to see the full impact of the consequences.”

The Gelang Patah MP said DAP leaders have agreed to disagree with PAS leaders on the issue of hudud as they believed all three PR parties were on the same page on the issues of justice, freedom, democracy, good governance, incorruptibility and moderation in Malaysia.

"We believe that we are honest politicians who will not use devious and dishonest means to mislead and cheat voters to vote for PR candidates under false pretences," he said.

As such, Lim was shocked by claims by some PAS leaders that there was nothing wrong in misleading voters in GE13 to support PR and PAS candidates and yet renege on its pledge on PR's 2011 common policy framework, whereby hudud was not part of it unless all parties agreed.

He was referring to Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, who had said that taking over Putrajaya come second to the implementation of hudud.

Secular DAP has repeatedly demanded that PAS shelve its plans in Kelantan, while PKR has remained neutral.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had admitted that the PAS-led Kelantan government's plans to table an amendment on hudud in its state assembly were problematic, as it had no powers to enforce the Islamic criminal law in the state.

"There will be many problems because you have to amend federal laws. You don't have the power to enforce (hudud).

"Let's say they do it anyway. Who will make the arrests? Who will bring them (the suspects) to prison?

"It's not within their (the state government) powers. So there are a lot of problems," he had said.

PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali has said hudud was never part of PR's common policy framework, in a reminder that such issues should be discussed first by the coalition's presidential council.

This led to PAS information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar saying that in the spirit of democracy, his party would accept if Parliament rejected the move to introduce the Shariah enactment.

"I don't consider hudud can split PR. This is because we have reached an agreement previously... when the late Karpal Singh was still alive, we had reached a consensus on this (hudud), to agree to disagree," he had said, referring to the former DAP chairman who had consistently argued that it was against the Federal Constitution and national interests.

PAS's attempt to push for hudud is not new. Previous attempts by the party to table similar bills have been blocked by the Barisan Nasional-dominated Parliament and have never been voted on.

But in recent times, Umno had openly expressed support for PAS’s latest bid, with the main obstacles being the Islamist party's own allies.

In April, PAS announced plans to introduce two private members’ bills in Parliament to allow it to enforce hudud in Kelantan.

But in doing so, it again resurrected the conflict between DAP and PAS that dates back to the 1990s and which had kept the two from cooperating for decades.

However, in May, following protests and severe criticism, PAS decided it would postpone the tabling of the bill to allow sufficient time for a joint Putrajaya and Kelantan government technical committee to study the implementation of the Kelantan Shariah Penal Code II.

This time, PAS's attempt to push for hudud prompted BN component party Gerakan to urge PKR and DAP's 18 Muslim MPs to vote against the private members' bill if it comes to Parliament.

Of the total 37 parliamentary seats held by DAP, two of its federal representatives are Muslims, namely Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari and Raub's Datuk Ariff Sabri, while 16 out of 29 PKR MPs are Muslims.

However, Gerakan's call was rebuffed by both PKR and DAP.

- TMI