KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 ― Alleging inconsistencies in the attitudes of Malaysia’s law enforcers and judiciary, DAP’s rising political star Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud cast doubt today on the ability of those tasked to carry out hudud fairly should the Islamic penal code be allowed.

The young Muslim politician contrasted the swift arrests of several opposition figures and activists ahead of a planned city street demonstration today ordered by the country’s top policeman Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and an investigation into the death and rape threats against a broadcast presenter who hosted a radio talk show critical of hudud recently.

“With such flawed attitude and inconsistency shown by the arbiters of law and justice, how can we possibly expect the same handlers to uphold and enforce enactments based on divine law?” she asked in her column in Malay Mail Online.

“What guarantees would there be to ensure laws such as hudud do not result in further injustice, when our institutions have shown clearly suspect behaviour?” she added, pointing to what she called as “arbitrary” the arrest of party colleague and MP Tony Pua over a recent tweet seen as critical of the police force.

Labelling Khalid a “one-man social media vigilante” for his penchant to order arrests and action on Twitter, the political secretary to DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang questioned further the Inspector-General of Police’s political neutrality and priorities in tackling crime.

She noted that deaths in police custody continue to climb even as the police step up their arrests of opposition politicians and activists who are seen as anti-establishment.

Dyana Sofya also questioned the judiciary’s independence, citing the widely panned Federal Court decision in February that sent Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to jail for the next five years as proof the institution’s credibility was compromised.

“It is obvious that our priority should be focused on overhauling our public institutions to ensure that justice and rule of law are delivered accordingly.

“Before the system is fixed, we should not even think about implementing shariah criminal law,” she said, and added, “The enactment does not solve existing problems”.

PAS, which only holds 21 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat, is banking on support from Muslim lawmakers to help pass its private members’ bills in Parliament in a bid to remove legal roadblocks to the rolling out of hudud in Kelantan.

The DAP has repeatedly opposed the roll out of hudud in Malaysia as in breach of the secular nature of the Federal Constitution.

Dyana Sofya’s comments on hudud echo a similar view from another young DAP Muslim MP Zairil Khir Johari who said he was opposed to PAS’s proposal due to its fallible nature.