KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — A group against PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang's Private Members' Bill to enhance Shariah punishments today launched a campaign to show the public their MPs’ position on the proposal.
BEBAS member Azrul Mohd Khalib said his group will keep a “scoreboard” on all MPs in the #YBUndiApa campaign and how they will vote on the Bill when the Parliament sits next month.
“There are three columns: No, Yes, Unknown. We marked some MPs as ‘No’ based on the public statements of the head of their party or based on their responses to our open letter.
“We have created scoreboards for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur so far. Other states will follow suit," he said in a statement.
Azrul said BEBAS also encouraged voters to tell their respective lawmakers to vote against the Bill in writing, phone calls or visits to their service centres.
The group has also prepared a template for voters to use on its Facebook page.
Azrul said it was important for voters to exercise their democratic rights by asking their MPs how they are expected to vote.
If the MP is unable to say so, Azrul said the voters should reject them in the next general election.
Of the MPs from the Selangor and Kuala Lumpur constituencies, nine, mostly the opposition leaders, are seen voting in the “No” column while others marked in the “Unknown” category.
The scoreboard can be found here.
Abdul Hadi, who is Marang MP is seeking to raise the ceiling on Shariah punishments from three years’ imprisonment, six strokes of the cane and an RM5,000 fine to 30 years’ imprisonment, 100 strokes, and an RM100,000 fine.
PAS together with several Muslim groups had on Saturday staged a rally at Padang Merbok to attain public's support for the Bill.
According to the police, about 20,000 people attended the rally as opposed to the 200,000 attendees expected by PAS.
BEBAS had also hosted a gathering for a much smaller crowd to oppose the Bill on the same day at Taman Jaya, Petaling Jaya.
