Don’t forget Pakatan’s common agenda, DAP reminds PAS as hudud row escalates
DAP will not bow to threats and will continue to resist the implementation of hudud as it is clearly unconstitutional, a party lawmaker said today.
Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo (pic) said the party's stand on the Islamic penal law would not waver, especially as it was against the Pakatan Rakyat agenda.
Gobind's father, the late Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh, was a firm opponent of hudud and the establishment of an Islamic state.
"If PAS insists on tabling the bill to implement hudud in Kelantan, the party should be prepared to face firm and open resistance from DAP," Gobind said in a statement.
He pointed out that PAS had formed an alliance with PKR and DAP after they accepted PR's common agenda which did not include the implementation of hudud.
"PAS rode on the combined strength of PR in the 13th general election last year," Gobind reminded the Islamic party.
"Malaysian voters threw their support behind PR on the strength of this common agenda which PAS should remember."
Gobind said PAS was wrong to say that the consensus of the opposition coalition not to implement hudud was only with regard to the national context.
"This is a weak excuse to avoid the truth which is, hudud was never part of the PR agenda announced in 2011," he said, adding that this applied across the board.
"DAP and PKR have every right to oppose the Islamic party's plan to introduce hudud in Kelantan as they are a member of the opposition coalition."
In fact, Gobind said, it was their duty to remind PAS of this and how the voters had supported them on the basis of PR's common agenda.
"PAS cannot stray now from the PR agenda," Gobind said.
Yesterday, Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah told PKR and DAP to stop disputing PAS’s aim of introducing hudud in Kelantan.
Mohd Amar had said that PAS had only agreed not to push for the introduction of the Islamic penal law at the federal level.
This has resulted in a marked increase in acrimony between the two ideologically-opposed PR partners over their long-standing difference on the Islamic penal law.
Earlier, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang told PAS that pushing for hudud has never gained it significant Malay support.
In fact, Lim said it would have cost both the party and PR dearly had this been an issue ahead of the 13th general election last year.
PAS had announced plans this month to introduce two private members’ bills in Parliament to allow it to enforce hudud in Kelantan.
But in doing so, it again resurrected the on-and-off conflict between DAP and PAS that dates back to the 1990s and which had kept the two from co-operating for decades.
PAS’s attempt to push for hudud is not new. Previous attempts by PAS to table similar bills have been blocked by the BN-dominated Parliament and have never been voted on. – April 24, 2014.
But in recent times, Umno has openly expressed support for PAS’s latest bid, with the main obstacles being the Islamic party's own allies.
