KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 ― Kelantan MCA decried today PAS's promise not be “overzealous” in its implementation of hudud, saying the party's refusal to back down from the proposal and its belief that amputations will “save society” is already overzealous enough.
In a statement here, Kelantan MCA secretary Datuk Lua Choon Hann urged PAS's Pakatan Rakyat (PR) allies PKR and DAP to do something to dissuade the Islamist party from its hudud plans for Kelantan, adding they should even consider cutting ties altogether.
Citing Kelantan deputy mentri besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah's interview today with Malaysiakini, Lua said PAS has already proven many times in the past how overzealous it can be when implementing its policies.
In the interview, Mohd Amar was quoted telling the news portal that Kelantan will not turn into Nigeria or Pakistan after hudud is implemented as there will be safeguards against potential overzealousness of the authorities.
“However, saying and doing are two different things entirely, and from past policies implemented by the PAS Kelantan state government, as well as in Kedah when PAS was in power, we know very well that PAS can be overzealous,” Lua said.
For example, the MCA man pointed to PAS's gender segregation policies for public places such as cinemas, and the ban preventing hairstylists from attending to customers of the opposite gender.
“What about the fines issued by the Kota Bahru Municipal Council (MPKB) to female workers who were deemed indecent simply because their sleeves were not long enough?” he reminded the Islamist party.
“Moreover, Mohd Amar has conceded of the gender bias in the application of hudud law when he admitted to 'the lesser weight given to women’s testimonies',” Lua added, referring to the PAS leader's Malaysiakini interview.
In the interview, Mohd Amar was also quoted as saying that chopping off an individual's hand ― a punishment for stealing as prescribed under hudud ― is not inhumane as it helps to “save the society”.
But Lua asked the PAS man today to clarify how amputations could save society, pointing out that unemployment and the stigmatisation that would follow after an individual loses a limb would only render him a destitute.
Additionally, the MCA leader said the Islamic penal code would also create a major headache for the country's legal system as it would only further segregate Muslims from non-Muslims with different laws for the two groups.
“In fact, this can be considered a form of apartheid similar to South Africa in the 1960s, except that this tie it concerns religions instead of race.
“Our current civil laws are already enough to prevent crime, and there is no need to introduce more harsher punishments simply because it is part of your religion,” he said.
He urged DAP and PKR to consider abandoning PAS should the party insist on pushing for hudud, saying that cutting ties would help deny PAS the support it needs to pass its private members' Bills on hudud in Parliament.
Kelantan will be convening an emergency sitting in the state legislative assembly next Monday to table amendments to the state's hudud enactment.
The amendments are in preparation for PAS’s plan to table in Parliament a private member’s bill to amend the Federal Constitution and allow Kelantan to implement the Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II passed by the state assembly in 1993.
In Islamic jurisprudence, hudud covers crimes such as theft, robbery, adultery, rape and sodomy. Punishments for the crimes are severe, including amputation, flogging and death by stoning.
The federal opposition is again at a crossroads, with PAS once more on the defensive against vehement protests by PR partners DAP and PKR over the Islamist party’s renewed push for hudud law.
Politicians from the pact admitted that the current impasse over PAS’s insistence on enforcing the Islamic penal code in Kelantan could potentially be the last straw for the coalition, as those for and against hudud remain stubbornly rooted in their positions.
The hudud issue has also provided new impetus for a possible co-operation between PAS and rival Umno, with the latter dangling the support the Islamist party needs to push its private member’s bill through Parliament.
DAP has unequivocally stated that it will vote against such a bill, while Muslim lawmakers from PKR have yet to commit.
