DAP turns the tables on MCA, Gerakan in hudud exchange

KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 ― It falls on Gerakan and MCA to convince Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin Umno not to support PAS’s bid to implement hudud in Kelantan as only the Malay nationalist party had the numbers needed to vote the Islamist party’s bid into law, said the DAP.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng pointed out that with 88 seats in Parliament, Umno is the single largest party and could provide the bulk of the votes needed for a simple majority to push the two PAS-sponsored bills on hudud through Parliament, if it sees fit to do so.

Lim said leaders in both Chinese-dominated parties should take adopt former MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s stance and put their full attention on steering Umno away from supporting the hudud bills.

“As Umno controls the largest number of MPs in Parliament, only Umno and Umno alone shall determine the success or failure in PAS’ attempt to implement hudud in Kelantan,” he said in a statement.

“For that reason Chua said that it is only logical that Umno must be convinced not to support PAS implementing hudud in Kelantan. Can MCA and Gerakan convince Umno?” he added.

Training his sights on Penang BN and state Gerakan chief Teng Chang Yeow, Lim said it is “dishonest” for the former to portray Pakatan Rakyat pact as sanctioning the hudud plan when it is clearly an initiative solely by PAS.

Lim claimed that Teng wilfully neglected to point out that the fact that hudud implementation was never a part of the PR consensus signed by the three partners, which also includes PKR.

He stressed that when it came down specifically to hudud, both DAP and PAS - who have traditionally been on opposing ends of the Islamic state debate - had agreed to disagree.

“In the statement signed by both PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and myself, why did Teng not mention that our respective struggle and co-operation is subject to the Federal Constitution?”

Lim also hit out at MCA deputy president Datuk Wee Ka Siong for claiming that a federal minister’s statement in support of hudud implementation was not representative of the collective BN view.

The DAP supremo reminded both Teng and Wee that BN’s support for hudud cannot be more official than a recent parliamentary reply by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom.

“How can Wee say that Jamil did not represent BN to support PAS implementing hudud in Kelantan when Jamil was replying on behalf of the BN government in Parliament?

“As a former deputy minister himself, Wee should know that any replies given in Parliament is made on behalf of the BN government not just on behalf only of either MCA or Umno. This is the principle of collective responsibility in government,” he said.

In 1993, the PAS state government passed the Kelantan Shariah Criminal Code Enactment (II), allowing it to impose the strict Islamic penal code in the state. But the laws have not been implemented.

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 unconventional punishments, some of which are for offences already covered in the Penal Code.The the other seeks to empower Shariah courts to mete out the unconventional punishments.

According to the Shariah Courts (Criminal) Jurisdiction Act 1965, the Islamic court cannot sentence offenders to more than three years in jail or fine them more than RM 5,000. It also cannot sentence offenders to be whipped more than six times.