Ikatan veep vows to quit party if PAS pushes for hudud

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — A Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) senior leader has said he will leave the party if its new political ally PAS seeks to enforce the Islamic penal code, hudud.

Datuk Tony Looi, one of Ikatan’s vice-presidents, said that the party had during its formation declared it would not support hudud.

“Personally, I definitely do not support hudud. When I joined the party, I already made it clear (that I) won’t support hudud, if PAS is adamant in enforcing hudud through the majority, I will leave the party,” he was quoted telling local paper Sin Chew Daily.

According to Looi, the issue of hudud laws had been discussed by both Ikatan and PAS prior to yesterday’s declaration of an alliance, with the Islamist party saying that the Islamic law will only be applied on Muslims.

Critics previously objected to the implementation of hudud due to the harsh penalties it prescribes such as the amputation of limbs.

At yesterday’s announcement of a formal alliance between PAS and Ikatan, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was reluctant to state if the new pact would continue to push through the party’s hudud agenda.

When asked if Ikatan’s partnership meant it supported PAS’s push for hudud, Abdul Hadi reportedly said matters concerning the implementation of hudud law can be postponed.

Ikatan president Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir — a former Umno leader of a generation that once rejected the implementation of the Islamic penal law in Malaysia —also deflected the hudud issue when queried repeatedly by the press.

Abdul Hadi insisted that his party has always believed in and pushed for inclusive politics with its brand of political Islam despite allegations that the Islamist party was growing increasingly conservative, saying: “We have always fought for every race and we have said it before that even if PAS takes over, other races will not be marginalised.”

Abdul Kadir backed Abdul Hadi on this, saying PAS has been committed in championing a brand of Islam that is universal and inclusive.

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.