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Hudud issue remains unclear

Friday, 30 December 2011 08:46am

©The Star (Used by permission)
by JOSEPH SIPALAN

PETALING JAYA: The hudud issues still remains unclear although senior officials of all three Pakatan Rakyat parties say there is not much likelihood of it becoming part of the grouping's first-ever general election manifesto.

However, it was only recently that PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat and president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had revived talk on implementing Islamic law.

Although they have different takes on the issue, members of the Pakatan secretariat agree it does not fit into their common platform going into the polls.

PAS central working committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the party accepts that this goal does not figure in the coalition's larger plans.

“Hudud is out of the common policy framework, but our Negara Berkebajikan (Welfare State) policy handles this (issue of Islamic principles) very well.

“It pushes for a clean and trustworthy government and that is Islamic already,” he said.

Dr Dzulkefly did not deny that the hudud issue was still alive in PAS but said members needed to reposition themselves to portray the “merciful and human face” of Islam through the Negara Berkebajikan policy, which party vice-president Salahuddin Ayub translated as a “nation of care and opportunity”.

PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli said hudud could be excluded from Pakatan's election manifesto, repeating the decision of the party's top leadership is to only push policies based on consensus.

“It's not my place to say. However, at the presidential council level, they had said earlier that any move to implement hudud would be based on consensus of all parties.

“Based on that, my hunch is it will probably not be included in the manifesto,” he said.

The MCA, however, scoffed at this latest assertion by Pakatan, accusing the opposition and especially PAS of constantly shifting the goal posts when it comes to the hudud issue.

MCA Young Professionals Bureau chairman Datuk Chua Tee Yong said Chua accused PAS of playing a “game of deception” by repeatedly switching between its hudud and welfare state policies to attract support from different segments of the electorate.

He also slammed non-Muslim leaders in the DAP and PKR, with the exception of DAP chairman Karpal Singh for being silent on the issue, saying this gave PAS room to push its goal of turning Malaysia into an Islamic state.

“They (PAS) are signatories of the Buku Jingga and pursuing hudud is not part of their common policy framework, but PAS does not seem to be bound by it.

“It is still pushing for an Islamic state. It has never changed its (party) constitution (which sets the goal of establishing an Islamic state in Malaysia) distancing itself from hudud is probably just a case of saying different things to different audiences,” he said.

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