KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — PAS Dewan Ulama chief Datuk Mahfodz Mohamed today said that Umno’s decision not to include hudud in their future national manifesto would not result in severed ties between the two parties.
He told Malay Mail the relationship between the two parties, God willing, would carry on after their victorious outing at the recent Cameron Highlands by-elections.
“What is important is the cooperation between Umno and PAS to topple the Pakatan Harapan government.
“Umno and PAS have to prioritise and focus on our similarities rather than flaunt our differences,” he said.
Umno acting president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan last week said that promising to include the hudud at the federal level in their national manifesto was tantamount to cheating the public.
Mohamad Hasan had said that Shariah law implementation was up to the state governments and not the federal administration, as Islamic matters are under the purview of the Sultans as heads of states.
PAS had in the past attempted a Shariah Bill in Parliament towards the supposed main objective of introducing the Islamic penal code in the state of Kelantan and then nationwide.
The Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, otherwise known as RUU355, had been tabled and debated during the Barisan Nasional administration, but the proposed amendments to the Bill never made it past the lower house of Parliament.
Additionally, Mahfodz was non-committal when asked if Umno’s stance against federal implementation of hudud would mean the end of their political relationship come GE15.
“GE15 is still far away, so PAS won’t be able to make any assumptions yet,” he said.
