KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will stick to its
September 28, 2011 accord on hudud, where the Islamic criminal law will
not be part of the coalition’s joint policy until all parties agree to
it, despite renewed disagreements in the past week between PAS and the
DAP.
All three opp
osition parties told a press conference after a
three-hour meeting today that hudud “is not part of our common policy”
but PAS’s position would be respected and heard, stepping back again
from the major difference that broke an earlier coalition of the same
parties a decade ago.
“We are still tied to September 28, where our
priority is the economy and any changes are tied to the constitution
and joint policies. So we have not changed our stand,” Opposition Leader
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang also stressed today the three
parties had agreed that “any change to our policy must be by way of
consensus.”
“All three parties must agree on the question of hudud. On our part,
it is very clear it is not in accordance with the constitution but we
respect PAS’s views,” the Ipoh Timor MP said.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang added that “we are firm on
that common policy and resolutions made by PR. And we respect the
difference of ideologies but we don’t want to solve this through the
media... but a democratic process.”
The Marang MP had reignited the current controversy after he was
reported to have said early this month that hudud would be implemented
if PR came to power, but it would only be for Muslims, while non-Muslims
would be given the option of whether to follow the Islamic punitive
law.
Although DAP chief Karpal Singh then called on Hadi not to speak out
on hudud, PAS Ulama Council chief Datuk Harun Taib said on Friday the
party would implement hudud if it is the biggest party in a ruling
coalition, and said it would even form new alliances to achieve this.
PAS maintains the implementation of hudud, which has long been a
contentious issue between Muslims and non-Muslims, as among its
aspirations.
The Islamist party has enacted the Islamic penal law in Kelantan and
Terengganu but it has not been enforced due to constitutional
restraints.
It drew flak from both Barisan Nasional (BN) and PR allies last year
over renewed plans to implement hudud, with the DAP central committee
threatening to quit if Kelantan goes ahead as planned.
However, PR sources say hudud was not possible as PAS will contest
only 66 out of the 222 federal seats with the bulk going to PKR, which
is a multiracial party like the DAP, which has been allotted 47 federal
seats.
“Unless PAS wins big and the other two parties don’t do so well, hudud will not be an issue,” a PR source told The Malaysian Insider, pointing out PAS has the smallest number of seats in the coalition now.
Th
e September agreement came after close to 30 top PR leaders had met
for over three hours to resolve the longstanding hudud issue which has
seen the DAP and PAS repeatedly at loggerhead
No comments:
Post a Comment