KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders must stop squabbling over hudud and knuckle down to its core fight for the people’s welfare, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli said today in a sobering reminder of what’s at stake for the federal opposition bloc.

The Pandan MP said the differences in opinion over PAS’s intent to enforce the strict Islamic penal code for Kelantan dated back to 1999 with the short-lived Barisan Alternatif alliance, and urged PR members not to be distracted by the long-standing issue.

“I call upon all of PR’s leadership to get back to focusing on our fight to defend the people on pressing issues as listed.

“This priority is crucial not only because it is our obligation towards the people but also the most effective way to defeat Umno and BN,” he said in a statement.

The PKR secretary-general and party vice-president called on PR partners to get back on track with dealing with rising living costs, corruption, race and religion manipulation, which he said were key issues facing the country in the year ahead.

He said that he has also requested to the PR secretariat to immediately obtain a draft copy of the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II that is to be tabled by the PAS-led Kelantan government to enable PKR and other PR leaders to deliberate for themselves before making any further comments on the issue.

“Therefore, I want to advise the PKR leadership to be cautious in making any remark over this polemic so as to not further complicate matters,” Rafizi further said adding that any decision on the said matter must be referred to the final say from PR’s presidential council.

Two days ago, senior DAP leader Lim Kit Siang warned that the Kelantan state government’s plan to amend its Shariah laws to pave the way for hudud to be implemented will only work against PAS and its partners in PR, failing to win over the majority of Malay voters while alienating their non-Malay peers.

He claimed that it was clear from the results of past national polls that the Islamist party’s long-held desire to implement hudud has worked against them.

“In fact, hudud can be the cause for Pakatan Rakyat not only losing the battle for Putrajaya, but also losing Kelantan — as well as wiping out all the gains that PAS had made outside its traditional stronghold states, like Johor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Selangor, Perak and Penang,” Lim said in a statement.

Three days ago, Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob announced that the state legislative assembly would hold a special sitting on December 29 to table and pass amendments to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code II, otherwise referring to hudud law.

He told a news conference that the move was necessary to enable their move to table in Parliament a private member’s bill on the implementation of hudud.