KLANG, Aug 19 — While acknowledging that PAS has been a good platform to champion Islam, the party’s Kota Raja federal lawmaker said today there were more important issues than the hudud cause that its leadership has made into top priority.
Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud defended today the decision of 413 Selangor PAS office bearers to resign from their party posts as a preliminary step to joining a new Islamist political party spearheaded by splinter group Harapan Baru (HB).
“The decision to join HB is because of its different political approach than that of PAS.
“PAS is a platform to defend Islam. Leaving PAS doesn’t mean leaving Islam, we’re just going for something more inclusive,” she told a news conference here.
Dr Siti Mariah was Selangor PAS vice-chairman.
She noted that while Islam provides for hudud, the Islamic criminal code is not a priority at the moment.
“The hudud issue is Islamic teachings. No Muslim will refuse hudud, but if we recall, the PAS president also said hudud is a small portion of Islam overall,” she said, referring to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
“It’s not the number one agenda in HB. It is a part of overall Muslim fight, but it’s not a priority now,” she added.
PAS’ current conservative central leadership has been insistent on rolling out the Islamic penal code in Kelantan, but met with strong resistance from political allies, especially DAP, resulting in the breakup of the three-party Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition alliance earlier this year.
A progressive faction within PAS that had sought to keep PR together was ousted in the party’s June election, subsequently setting up HB as a precursor to a new political party they hope to register by next month.
Those aligned to HB drew flak last Thursday from PAS Youth chief Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz who urged disillusioned party leaders to leave the party respectfully instead of sabotaging the party from the inside.
HB has since announced it will register the new party on September 14 to replace PAS in a new federal opposition pact.
A total of 413 PAS office bearers across Selangor announced today their resignation from party positions in a bid to ease their membership into a new Islamist party expected end of the month.
Those who resigned today comprised 183 office bearers from the Kota Raja parliamentary constituency, 227 members with positions from the Kapar federal constituency and three committee members from Klang, all of whom remain ordinary PAS members but no longer hold any positions in their respective constituencies.
