Decision on hudud in voters’ hands, Ikatan says after forming pact with PAS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — Voters will ultimately decide whether or not to help PAS realise its hudud ambitions, Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) president Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said today after announcing an alliance with the Islamist party.

Abdul Kadir had initially deflected the media’s queries on whether Ikatan’s co-operation with PAS meant it supports having hudud laws in Malaysia.

When pressed for answers, the former Umno minister said any attempt to implement such laws would have to go through Parliament.

“As Muslims of course we have to accept hudud, but we have to see if the condition is right so that means it may have to be delayed,” he said when asked to clarify Ikatan’s position on the matter.

“But whatever it is, the people will decide about hudud. Let it go through due process, the Parliament will ultimately decide,” he added.

But in an interview with news portal Free Malaysia Today, Kadir, a former Umno leader from an administration that deemed hudud as incompatible in multiracial Malaysia, said both PAS and Ikatan felt the country was not ready for the Islamic penal law.

At the same press conference, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was also coy when asked if hudud would remain as a key campaigning issue for the new bloc.

Abdul Hadi deflected the question and said the pact’s campaign would only focus on broader topics such as corruption and good governance.

“We focus on other issues first… more general issues,” he said.

Later on the PAS president went on to say, “...the issue of hudud is like this: if there are no cars there can be no road rules or regulations”.

PAS and Ikatan announced today their formal political alliance in a widely anticipated move although it is still unclear if the new opposition pact plans to take on rival Pakatan Harapan on top of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next elections.

Abdul Hadi said the new pact would act more as an issue-based pressure group that would engage the government “instead of opposing for the sake of opposing”.

PAS parted ways with DAP and PKR from the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat after a fallout over its hudud ambition. It has since flirted with the idea of a political co-operation with arch-rival Umno in a move seemingly aimed at consolidating conservative Malay political power.