KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Former minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said Malaysians must reject stupidity and bigotry and defend secular democracy against what he called Umno’s political games with PAS, which has resulted in a national committee to study how to implement hudud laws for the first time.
He also dismissed suggestions that Umno was only baiting PAS and had no intention of supporting hudud.
“I do not agree. They are neither smart nor savvy. They are not playing games — they are just too weak and afraid to explain to Muslim voters in this country that the hudud plan will only cause them hardship. They no longer have the convictions of former leaders, who had similarly been threatened by PAS since 1950’s over the issue,” said Zaid, a former Umno man.
“It’s time Umno stopped playing political games with such recklessness, and at the risk of ripping apart our national fabric. It’s time their colleagues from the component parties tell them that yes, there is life after Umno.”
Writing on his blog today, he accused Umno leaders of being too weak and afraid to explain to Muslim voters that hudud will only cause them hardship.
PAS has been seeking to form an Islamic state since the party’s formation in the 1950s by the ulama faction of Umno.
In 1993, the PAS state government passed the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II, allowing it to impose the strict Islamic penal code in the state, but the laws have not been implemented yet.
PAS is now looking for parliamentary approval to implement hudud. It plans to put forward two private members’ bills in parliament. One seeks approval for punishments including whipping, stoning and amputation while the other seeks to empower Shariah courts to mete out the sentences.
In all previous attempts, PAS had been frustrated by BN tactics to prevent any vote by employing a “talking out” tactic where BN MPs have been allowed to speak for an extended period of time to prevent such private members’ bills from even being debated.
The filibuster-style tactic was frequently used when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was still prime minister.
This was believed to be largely due to Dr Mahathir seeking to avoid putting Umno MPs in a difficult position of deciding whether to back or reject the Shariah enactment.
However, Umno leaders have now said they have no objections to the implementation of hudud and have constantly challenged PAS to try to introduce the law. Recently, Putrajaya also announced the formation of a special committee to study how to enact hudud.
“If the present, smart Umno leaders think the hudud issue will break the Pakatan, have they considered the possibility that it might break the BN first? Have they considered that they might lose the middle ground of Malaysian politics among those who do not care about either Anwar or DAP?” said Zaid today.
He said that many Malaysians had previously relied on Umno to defend “our way of life.”
“They were sick of their corrupt ways and extravagant lifestyles but they still voted for the BN because they valued the democratic system that past leaders had established. They relied on Umno for this stability and for its stance on religious moderation, no matter how flawed the system had become.”
To defend a secular democracy, Zaid said that moderate members of Barisan Nasional (BN) must be prepared to abandon Umno, and suggested it would not be so bad if the opposition Pakatan Rakyat broke up over this issue.
“Let’s see how far these new Talibans can take this country forward. Let’s see how far these Brioni-suited leaders in UMNO and their new friends in PAS will take hudud, and all its ramifications. Let’s call their bluff, and let’s reject stupidity and bigotry for a better Malaysia,” he said.
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