By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — PAS will implement hudud if it is the biggest party in a ruling coalition and will even change partners to do so, according to its Ulama Council chief Datuk Harun Taib.
Hudud or Islamic criminal law is a contentious issue within the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition and DAP national chairman Karpal Singh had said on Thursday that Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang should stop making statements on implementing such laws after the PAS president said earlier this week the opposition pact will go ahead with hudud for Muslims first if it took federal power.
Abdul Hadi had also said the Federal Constitution would be changed to incorporate Islam as addin (a way of life) should the opposition coalition win an election that must be held within a year.
“If we have enough majority, if PAS is stronger than our allies, we will implement... even if not with the current partners we have in Pakatan... may be there will be other pacts that will lend us their support,” Harun (picture) was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.
The Manir assemblyman was reported as saying that implementing hudud “is what is required by Islam.”
In September last year, the tripartite coalition had agreed that while PAS could continue to campaign to implement it, it would not be part of PR policy unless a joint consensus was reached, stepping back from the brink of a major difference that broke an earlier coalition of the same three parties a decade ago.
PAS, one of the DAP’s partners in PR, maintains the implementation of hudud as among its aspirations. The party has enacted the Islamic penal law in Kelantan and Terengganu but it has not been enforced due to constitutional restraints.
The Islamist party drew flak from both Barisan Nasional (BN) and PR allies recently 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 said, pointing out PAS has the smallest number of seats in the coalition now.
Another source also said the mainstream media was exploiting the issue to split the coalition but PR has already agreed on its stand.
“This isn’t an issue with us,” he said.
