 |
MP SPEAKS MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek is playing the destructive role of Utusan Malaysia seeking to frighten Chinese voters with lies and falsehoods in the same manner Utusan has been trying in the past three years to scare Malay voters with its daily staple of lies and falsehoods.
The role of Utusan Malaysia,
the official organ of Umno, is to violate all ethics of journalism to
systematically and unconscionably concoct and dispense lies and
falsehoods about the DAP and the Pakatan Rakyat to stampede the Malay
voters to vote solidly for Umno.
For instance, Utusan Malaysia had been publishing downright lies and falsehoods about the DAP, spreading the completely baseless allegation that the DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers, that the DAP wants to create a Christian Malaysia to replace Islam as the official religion, appoint a Christian prime minister, establish a Republic and abolish the system of Malay monarchy.
In the past months, it has become obvious that the MCA president is playing the irresponsible and divisive role of Utusan Malaysia
by seeking to frighten the Chinese voters to stampede them to vote for
MCA through what MCA strategists believe is the MCA trump card – the
issue of Islamic state and hudud implementation.
DAP’s stand on Malaysia as a secular state has always been constant and consistent.
We hold firm to our fundamental principle that an Islamic state and hudud laws are inappropriate and unsuitable for Malaysia as a plural society.
We do not hide our fundamental principle and beliefs, whether from PAS or any other political party or the Malaysian people. We know PAS’ stand on Islamic State and hukum hudud, just as PAS knows our different stand on these two issues.
Consensus needed among Pakatan component parties
Although DAP, PAS and PKR have our differences, the Pakatan Rakyat leadership has repeatedly reaffirmed our unswerving commitment to common policy agreements reached by the three component parties, whether before or after the 13th general election (GE), in the Pakatan Common Policy Framework of Dec 19, 2009, Buku Jingga of Dec 20, 2010 or other joint Pakatan leadership statements and documents.
The
Pakatan leadership has also repeatedly reaffirmed the principle that
there must be consensus among the three Pakatan component parties before
there could be any change in any agreed Pakatan policy.
The Pakatan leadership has also repeatedly emphasised that the implementation of hudud is not part of the Pakatan Common Policy Framework.
This means that if Pakatan wins the 13th general election and forms the federal government in Putrajaya, for the next five years from 2012/2013 to 2017/8, the implementation of hudud will not be part of the Pakatan Rakyat federal government policy or programme unless all the three Pakatan parties can reach a consensus on it.
This position is very clear, simple and straightforward but the MCA president is doing his utmost in his politics of desperation, fear and irresponsibility to try to cause panic and fear so as to stampede the Chinese voters to vote for MCA in the 13th general election.
One of Chua’s favourite gambits is to cite PAS peputy president Mohamad Sabu claiming that Mohamad Sabu (right) had announced that PAS will amend the federal constitution to implement hudud if Pakatan Rakyat comes into power.
He totally ignored Mohamad Sabu’s denial of ever having made such a statement and the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council’s policy pronouncement that the implementation of hudud is not part of Pakatan Rakyat policies, a policy position which binds all Pakatan Rakyat parties for the next four to five years until the 14th general elections.
Two-thirds majority claim 'utter rubbish'
Another favourite Chua gambit is to shout from the rooftops that hudud implementation is a certainty if Pakatan Rakyat wins in the 13th general election, claiming that “judging from the 222 MPs, of whom most were Muslims, PAS could easily obtain the two-thirds majority to implement its version of hudud”.
Chua had gone on public record in saying: “So, this is a political reality that all non-Muslims must face. This is not a threat. It is something that all of us must think about carefully”.
This is a downright lie and utter rubbish. It shows that in his politics of desperation, Chua has utter contempt for figures, facts and the truth.
Firstly, the number of Muslim MPs, as it stands, still falls short of the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution.
After the 2008 GE, for Peninsular Malaysia, there were 107 Muslim MPs, i.e. 65 MPs from Barisan National (BN) – a far cry from the two-thirds majority of 148 MPs required to amend the constitution.
Even when Sabah and Sarawak are included (and Sabah and Sarawak must be considered separately, as Malaysia’s position as a secular state is specifically underlined in Sabah’s 20-Point Agreement and Sarawak’s 18-Point Agreement in the formation of Malaysia in 1963), the total number of Muslim MPs still fall short of two-thirds majority.
Including
Sabah and Sarawak, the 2008 GE elected 130 Muslim MPs out of 222 or 59
percent, 18 MPs short of a two-thirds majority - with 88 Muslim MPs
from BN and 42 Muslim MPs are from PR.
It would be simplistic to assume that the Muslim MPs from BN in East Malaysia would blindly support a motion to declare Malaysia as an Islamic state especially since some of these MPs, such as those from Parti Pesaka-Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) in Sarawak, are from parties with non-Muslim members and representatives among their midst.
If we consider only the Muslim MPs in Peninsular Malaysia, they only constitute 107 MPs, less than 50 percent of the total number of MPs in Malaysia, far short of the two-thirds of 66.7 percent required for any constitutional amendment.
Even
if we take the number of Muslim majority versus non-Muslim majority
seats, there are only 136 Muslim majority seats in the whole country (61
percent), still 12 short of a two thirds majority of 148.
Again, the rationale of Sabah and Sarawak Muslim MPs not necessarily supporting such a motion still holds.
From the two tables, even in the most extreme circumstances where all of the MPs in Muslim majority seats vote to support an Islamic state motion, it would still not be sufficient to reach a two-thirds majority.
These two tables debunk the lie that the MCA president is spreading all over the country, that it is virtually a certainty that there would be two-thirds parliamentary majority of Muslim MPs to support a constitutional amendment to implement hudud when Pakatan Rakyat comes into power in Putrajaya in the 13th GE.
I would advise the MCA president to cease and desist and halt all his politics of fear, desperation and irresponsibility. Let him act responsibly for a change and show greater respect for figures, facts and the truth.
LIM KIT SIANG is DAP MP for Ipoh Timur.
The role of Utusan Malaysia,
the official organ of Umno, is to violate all ethics of journalism to
systematically and unconscionably concoct and dispense lies and
falsehoods about the DAP and the Pakatan Rakyat to stampede the Malay
voters to vote solidly for Umno.For instance, Utusan Malaysia had been publishing downright lies and falsehoods about the DAP, spreading the completely baseless allegation that the DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers, that the DAP wants to create a Christian Malaysia to replace Islam as the official religion, appoint a Christian prime minister, establish a Republic and abolish the system of Malay monarchy.
In the past months, it has become obvious that the MCA president is playing the irresponsible and divisive role of Utusan Malaysia
by seeking to frighten the Chinese voters to stampede them to vote for
MCA through what MCA strategists believe is the MCA trump card – the
issue of Islamic state and hudud implementation.DAP’s stand on Malaysia as a secular state has always been constant and consistent.
We hold firm to our fundamental principle that an Islamic state and hudud laws are inappropriate and unsuitable for Malaysia as a plural society.
We do not hide our fundamental principle and beliefs, whether from PAS or any other political party or the Malaysian people. We know PAS’ stand on Islamic State and hukum hudud, just as PAS knows our different stand on these two issues.
Consensus needed among Pakatan component parties
Although DAP, PAS and PKR have our differences, the Pakatan Rakyat leadership has repeatedly reaffirmed our unswerving commitment to common policy agreements reached by the three component parties, whether before or after the 13th general election (GE), in the Pakatan Common Policy Framework of Dec 19, 2009, Buku Jingga of Dec 20, 2010 or other joint Pakatan leadership statements and documents.
The
Pakatan leadership has also repeatedly reaffirmed the principle that
there must be consensus among the three Pakatan component parties before
there could be any change in any agreed Pakatan policy.The Pakatan leadership has also repeatedly emphasised that the implementation of hudud is not part of the Pakatan Common Policy Framework.
This means that if Pakatan wins the 13th general election and forms the federal government in Putrajaya, for the next five years from 2012/2013 to 2017/8, the implementation of hudud will not be part of the Pakatan Rakyat federal government policy or programme unless all the three Pakatan parties can reach a consensus on it.
This position is very clear, simple and straightforward but the MCA president is doing his utmost in his politics of desperation, fear and irresponsibility to try to cause panic and fear so as to stampede the Chinese voters to vote for MCA in the 13th general election.
One of Chua’s favourite gambits is to cite PAS peputy president Mohamad Sabu claiming that Mohamad Sabu (right) had announced that PAS will amend the federal constitution to implement hudud if Pakatan Rakyat comes into power.He totally ignored Mohamad Sabu’s denial of ever having made such a statement and the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council’s policy pronouncement that the implementation of hudud is not part of Pakatan Rakyat policies, a policy position which binds all Pakatan Rakyat parties for the next four to five years until the 14th general elections.
Two-thirds majority claim 'utter rubbish'
Another favourite Chua gambit is to shout from the rooftops that hudud implementation is a certainty if Pakatan Rakyat wins in the 13th general election, claiming that “judging from the 222 MPs, of whom most were Muslims, PAS could easily obtain the two-thirds majority to implement its version of hudud”.
Chua had gone on public record in saying: “So, this is a political reality that all non-Muslims must face. This is not a threat. It is something that all of us must think about carefully”.
This is a downright lie and utter rubbish. It shows that in his politics of desperation, Chua has utter contempt for figures, facts and the truth.
Firstly, the number of Muslim MPs, as it stands, still falls short of the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution.
After the 2008 GE, for Peninsular Malaysia, there were 107 Muslim MPs, i.e. 65 MPs from Barisan National (BN) – a far cry from the two-thirds majority of 148 MPs required to amend the constitution.
Even when Sabah and Sarawak are included (and Sabah and Sarawak must be considered separately, as Malaysia’s position as a secular state is specifically underlined in Sabah’s 20-Point Agreement and Sarawak’s 18-Point Agreement in the formation of Malaysia in 1963), the total number of Muslim MPs still fall short of two-thirds majority.
Including
Sabah and Sarawak, the 2008 GE elected 130 Muslim MPs out of 222 or 59
percent, 18 MPs short of a two-thirds majority - with 88 Muslim MPs
from BN and 42 Muslim MPs are from PR.It would be simplistic to assume that the Muslim MPs from BN in East Malaysia would blindly support a motion to declare Malaysia as an Islamic state especially since some of these MPs, such as those from Parti Pesaka-Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) in Sarawak, are from parties with non-Muslim members and representatives among their midst.
If we consider only the Muslim MPs in Peninsular Malaysia, they only constitute 107 MPs, less than 50 percent of the total number of MPs in Malaysia, far short of the two-thirds of 66.7 percent required for any constitutional amendment.
Even
if we take the number of Muslim majority versus non-Muslim majority
seats, there are only 136 Muslim majority seats in the whole country (61
percent), still 12 short of a two thirds majority of 148.Again, the rationale of Sabah and Sarawak Muslim MPs not necessarily supporting such a motion still holds.
From the two tables, even in the most extreme circumstances where all of the MPs in Muslim majority seats vote to support an Islamic state motion, it would still not be sufficient to reach a two-thirds majority.
These two tables debunk the lie that the MCA president is spreading all over the country, that it is virtually a certainty that there would be two-thirds parliamentary majority of Muslim MPs to support a constitutional amendment to implement hudud when Pakatan Rakyat comes into power in Putrajaya in the 13th GE.
I would advise the MCA president to cease and desist and halt all his politics of fear, desperation and irresponsibility. Let him act responsibly for a change and show greater respect for figures, facts and the truth.
LIM KIT SIANG is DAP MP for Ipoh Timur.
No comments:
Post a Comment