Umno’s backing of hudud only to split Pakatan, say analysts

The country’s largest Malay party, Umno, is only supporting the hudud amendments to break up opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat, say political analysts. – The Malaysian Insider pic, March 21, 2015.

Umno’s sole purpose for supporting hudud now is to split Pakatan Rakyat apart, political analysts said, adding that once the bill reached the Parliament, the question of voting for it would be immaterial as the damage would be done.

They dismissed claims by several Umno MPs that supporting hudud was important to fulfil the teachings of Islam, saying that when the time came, the political party would not likely support the bill as it would risk angering their allies in Sabah and Sarawak.

“The purpose of Umno supporting hudud’s plan is to break up Pakatan. With the tabling of the hudud bill in Kelantan, Pakatan is already at the brink of collapse,” said Dr Mohd Faisal Syam Abdol Hazis, a senior lecturer from the department of Political Studies at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

“Pakatan cannot persist if PAS is adamant to revive its hudud agenda. So if Pakatan collapses before the tabling of the motion to support hudud in Parliament, Umno has the luxury not to support the bill in order to keep BN intact.”

Ibrahim Suffian, the director of independent pollster Merdeka Center, added that Umno’s support for hudud could be a bluff, especially as such a move would not go down well with BN Sabah and Sarawak.

He said the destruction of the opposition pact was Barisan Nasional’s (BN) best chance of surviving, given the pressure arising from the slowing economy and challenges to the prime minister’s leadership.

“It is interesting that senior PAS leaders such as Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and Datuk Seri Haron Din have fallen for BN’s clever plan to divide the opposition, not realising that the biggest loser will be PAS when non-Muslim voters reject them causing the party to lose all their west peninsular seats.

“I agree that BN Sabah and Sarawak will not stand for hudud as it will undercut their own positions,” Ibrahim told The Malaysian Insider.

Dr Lim Teck Ghee (pic, right), the director of Centre for Policy Initiatives, also agreed, noting that the Christian and non-Muslim communities from East Malaysia had a large stake with regard to religious freedom in the country.

“It is not well known that Sabah and Sarawak have substantial non-Muslim populations whose voting preference can make the difference as to which coalition wins power at the federal level, especially in a close run general election.

“And it is not only non-Muslims who are watching with concern the encroachment on religious and other civil liberty issues,” said Lim.

However, Faisal said that should Umno vote in favour of the bill in Parliament, it would not lead to the breakup of Barisan Nasional.

“Sabah is being led by Umno while Sarawak is being led by a Muslim-Bumiputera-dominated party. Umno is such a dominant party that the smaller BN parties would not have the balls to withdraw from the coalition.

“Through patronage or even threat, the coalition could be maintained,” said Faisal.

Hadi is seeking to table a private members’ bill in Parliament during the current sitting ending April 9 to enable Kelantan to enforce hudud laws in the state, despite opposition from allies PKR and DAP.

The bill is to amend Act 355 of the Shariah Courts Act (Criminal Jurisdiction) 1965, which limits the power of the Shariah courts to a maximum penalty of RM3,000 in fine, five years jail and six strokes of the cane.

An amendment is required in this law to enable the Kelantan hudud amendments to take effect. However, PAS allies PKR and DAP have said hudud was not part of the PR pact's common stand and spoke out against the bill.

DAP will meet on Monday to review its ties with PR, after having been “stabbed” by PAS when the Kelantan state legislative assembly tabled and passed amendments to its hudud enactment on this week.

PKR today announced it would not support PAS's hudud bill should it be tabled in Parliament, saying that the Islamist party had acted unilaterally in the matter and gone against the Pakatan leadership council's decision.

The party added that it also opposed the bill due to the principles of Fiqh Al-Awlawiyyat (understanding priorities), Maslahat Ummah (public interest) and the Maqasid Shariah (higher objectives of shariah).

- TMI