Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting should be convened to declare the BN stand on Pahang state mufti’s incendiary and seditious “kafir harbi” statement

When I suggested last month that an emergency meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council should be requisitioned over what happened in Parliament on May 26, where the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, fast-tracked Hadi’s hudud motion and violated the 43-year Barisan Nasional stand and consensus that PAS’ hudud proposal was not appropriate for Malaysia’s plural society and against the fundamental provisions of the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and 1963 Malaysia Agreement, there was not a single leader from the 14-party Barisan Nasional coalition who dared to take up the suggestion.

Since then, the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar parliamentary by-elections had been held with unexpectedly big victories for the UMNO/Barisan Nasional candidates.

But what do the twin Barisan Nasional by-election victories mean in terms of Hadi’s hudud motion, which will need another Ministerial motion to “fast-track” it in the parliamentary agenda when Parliament reconvenes on Oct. 17, so that it could be given priority over government business to be presented to Parliament for resolution.

Will the twin Barisan Nasional by-election victories mean that there will be another Ministerial motion at the end of the year to fast-track Hadi’s hudud motion, or will it mean that there will no Ministerial motion to fast-track Hadi’s hudud motion and that it will left in limbo as had been the case with Hadi’s hudud motion in the past?

All the leaders of the other 13 parties in the Barisan Nasional coalition are keeping mum on the subject as none of them know what is going to happen in Parliament at the end of the year as it will all depend on what would best serve the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s interests to ensure his own political survival.

This is a sad commentary that the Barisan Nasional has long ceased to be a coalition of equals, where the Prime Minister is ‘primus inter pares’ but a very lop-sided political coalition where the UMNO President and Prime Minister, can singly, unilaterally and arbitrarily disregard 43-year-old Barisan Nasional consensus and decide what should be Barisan Nasional policy as happened in Parliament on May 26.

The Barisan Nasional Supreme Council should be convened to declare the BN stand on Pahang state mufti’s incendiary and seditious “kafir harbi” statement, which not only violates Barisan Nasional policy and consensus, but threatens the unity and solidarity of the Malaysian Federation especially with reference to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 – apart from being a most contemptuous disregard of 59 years of Malaysian nation building and the fundamental Rukunegara principle in upholding the Rule of Law.

Is there any Barisan Naisonal leader who will come forward to requisition a Barisan Nasionl Supreme Council meeting for BN to take an unequivocal stand on the Pahang state mufti’s incendiary and sedition “kafir harbi” statement, which tantamounts to inciting an open declaration of war against both non-Muslims and Muslims on the ground of not supporting Hadi’s hudud motion?

This does not appear to be likely, as not a single Minister, not even the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, has demanded that the Pahang State Mufti should be an exemplary Malaysian and must retract his seditious and incendiary “kafir harbi” statement.

Who will be the first Ministers to speak up to repudiate and completely dissociate from the Pahang state mufti’s seditious and incendiary “kafir harbi” statement?

(Speech at the DAP Pengkalan Rinting kopitiam ceramah in Johor Baru on Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 9 am)