KOTA KINABALU, Aug 19 ― The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), including major business players and a state MCA leader, are leading efforts to support a nationwide campaign against PAS’ bill to amend the Shariah court’s powers.
The association, along with the Federation of Sabah and Labuan Hokkien Association are aiming to aid in collecting one million signatures for the national-led Federation of Hokkien Associations Malaysia’s initiative.
FCAS president Datuk Seri Panglima Dr T.C. Goh said the signature drive was in full swing in West Malaysia and that they were bringing it to Sabah where the multicultural society here should not be affected by the Islamic law.
According to a report in The Borneo Post, Goh who is also the president of the Federation of Sabah and Labuan Hokkien Associations, urged the presidents or representatives of all Chinese associations in Sabah to attend the launching event and pen their signatures to support the campaign.
“If the Bill is passed in parliament, it will change the legal system in Malaysia, which affects not only Muslims, but non-Muslims as well. Malaysia will have dual legal systems within a country,” he said in a joint press conference by FCAS and the Federation of Sabah and Labuan Hokkien Associations here yesterday.
“Sabah is a beautiful state in the sense that people of different races can enjoy their meals in the same coffee shop without issue. Sabahans should support the campaign even more than our West Malaysian counterparts to safeguard the unique characteristics of the state,” he said.
Goh urged the Chinese community, Muslims and non-Muslims to support the cause for the benefit of the state, although he said “it did not mean that the Federation is against Islam, Bumiputeras or the Muslim community.”
Recently, the Federation of Hokkien Associations of Malaysia president Tan Sri Khoo Chai Kaa said that its campaign has garnered some 400,000 signatures from Chinese and non Muslims since it begun its campaign in June against PAS plans for hudud laws.
He hopes to hit the target of one million signatures.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s Bill to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 is expected to come up for debate in the Parliament meeting in October.
FCAS Women chief Datuk Agnes Shim, who is also MCA Sabah wanita chief, urged women to stand against “the implementation of the hudud law” in Sabah.
At the press conference yesterday, Kota Kinabalu Hakka Association president Datuk Jimmy Yong Kyok Ming hoped that the Hakka associations in Sabah would render their support to the campaign.
Yong, a retired senior civil servant who is also the deputy president of FCAS, said the multiracial people in Sabah have always lived in harmony and the Chinese community could not afford to be disunited in issues affecting the community.
The launching of the signature drive will be at Sabah Oriental Hotel on August 31, 11am. Khoo is expected to talk about the campaign’s declaration ‘Defending Our Constitution, Rejecting Hudud Law’ and objectives of the signature drive while legal practitioners will answer questions pertaining to the Islamic penal code on that day.
In May, Hadi’s private member’s Bill was fast tracked by the government in Parliament in an unusual move, but the the Bill was deferred to this October’s parliamentary meeting on the request of Hadi.
Hadi has insisted that his private member’s Bill is not meant to introduce hudud law in Kelantan, arguing that it is only intended to expand the range of punishments the Shariah courts can impose and that it also does not carry out punishments required for some of the hudud.
The Bill seeks to empower Shariah courts to enforce punishments ― except for the death penalty ― provided in Shariah laws for Islamic offences listed under state jurisdiction in the Federal Constitution, without elaborating on the nature of the punishments.
Shariah court punishments are currently limited to jail terms not exceeding three years, or whipping of not more than six strokes, or fines of not more than RM5,000.
