KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — PAS today announced that it will delay — but not end — its plan to table two private members’ bills in Parliament that could pave way for the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

It says it wants to allow a yet-to-be-formed committee involving the federal and state governments to study the technicalities of the Islamic penal code and provide suggestions.

But its earlier intention to introduce legal changes that may let it start enforcing the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II has already opened up a can of worms that has far-reaching repercussions for Malaysia, despite all the protestations that the Islamic penal code will be limited to Kelantan.

It is a controversy that traces back decades, but at no point in the country’s history has it come closer to reality than today.

Here are the three things we have learned from the latest episode:

1. Speak up if you want to be heard

The DAP and MCA may be going at each other like cats and dogs over hudud, and while their intentions may not be wholly altruistic, they are at least the clearest resistance to the gradual creep towards hudud that the country appears to be on.

Their vocal opposition to the attempt also exposes the momentum that is building towards hudud.

Both parties have warned, albeit one more compellingly than the other, that pushing for the Islamic penal code would lead to the disintegration of their respective political coalitions. They are, in essence, laying their cards on the table.

Yet this has not stopped either Umno or PAS from grinding ahead with hudud, with both telling their critics to butt out from the matter.

If this is their response despite all the opposition, it is not hard to imagine what might entail if we all just keep quiet.

2. Malaysia is a secular country

No less than Malaysia’s founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman had this to say: “The country has a multi-racial population with various beliefs. Malaysia must continue as a secular State with Islam as the official religion.”

One might argue that Malaysia is a state with Islamic values, but despite all affirmations otherwise, the cogs of our government and society do not operate on Islamic law.

Were we truly an Islamic state, as some contend, we might not need this debate over hudud and we would not need to consider the unconstitutionality of its enforcement; why would Islamic law be unconstitutional in an Islamic state?

Malaysia was created as a secular democracy and it remains so today. But this is not set in stone. It can be changed and, from current evidence, appears headed in that direction.

Hudud is but another step from secular to Islamic state, and possibly the one that takes us over whatever threshold that separates the two.

3. Malaysia, truly Asia

For many years, the tagline had encapsulated Malaysia in a nutshell: A country of diverse races, cultures and religions all living as one.

Of course it was a carefully-crafted image far from the more prickly reality, but the underlying message is still true.

Despite all our foibles and squabbles, we are a nation of many people, many cultures and many traditions, all sharing this little spot of earth.

Malays and Islam may be the dominant race and religion in the country, but the two are far from being the only ones. And that’s just in peninsular Malaysia.

Consider also that the incredibly diverse Sabah and Sarawak are equals to the peninsula in the federation, and the idea of pushing Islamic law on the rest of the country becomes even more untenable.

Malaysia is a country for all. PAS says it is, too. Perhaps it is time for PAS to show that it means it.