KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — DAP’s Sabah chapter announced today its decision to freeze cooperation with its PAS allies in the state, making the move one day ahead of the party’s central leadership meeting tomorrow to review its position in Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
Sabah DAP chairman Jimmy Wong said the decision stemmed from PAS’s refusal to back down from its hudud ambition in Kelantan, despite fierce resistance from its PR partners DAP and PKR.
“Sabah DAP decided today to suspend any cooperation with Sabah PAS following the decision by the party’s Kelantan leadership to betray and ignore its mutual understanding in PR, and approve the Shariah Criminal Code II 1993 amendments Bill,” he said in a statement here.
Wong said although hudud was only being pushed for implementation in Kelantan for now, the issue affects Malaysians at large, including those living across the South China Sea.
“By approving the hudud law with Umno’s blessing, PAS has made hudud not merely an issue in Kelantan but also a huge issue for Malaysia as it involves the rule of law and harmony.
“If the Barisan Nasional (BN) representatives in Kelantan supports hudud, the question is, what is the stand of Sabah BN, especially those from Umno, on the implementation of hudud?” he asked.
The Kota Kinabalu MP noted that religious diversity in Sabah is an important factor for public peace and harmony as the state is home to more than 30 different ethnic groups.
He agreed with his DAP counterparts in the peninsula that hudud violates the Federal Constitution, adding that it would also drive a deeper wedge between the Muslims and non-Muslims, apart from causing a possible constitutional crisis.
“Therefore, Sabah DAP challenges the chairman of Sabah BN Datuk Seri Musa Aman, who is also the chief minister, as well as BN’s other component parties including PBS, LDP, UPKO, Umno, PBRS, MCA and Gerakan to declare in Parliament whether they support or object to the implementation of hudud,” he said.
PAS-ruled Kelantan passed key amendments to its Shariah Criminal Code II 1993 on Thursday in a move to enable the eventual implementation of hudud in the Malay-majority east coast state.
All 12 Umno state lawmakers voted for the amendments but the ruling party’s national leadership has yet to declare if the same support would be given to PAS’s hudud ambition at the federal level.
Next week, all BN component parties including Umno are expected to issue a joint statement to declare its position on the controversial issue.
The statement is expected to precede PAS’s attempt to table a private members’ Bill in the on-going Parliament session that will enable Kelantan to carry out punishments under hudud. Among others, the Islamic criminal justice system prescribes amputation as punishment for crimes like stealing.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had earlier this week served notice to Parliament on the proposed Bill but BN’s law minister Datuk Nancy Shukri said it may not make it into the order paper for the current session as there are many others on the schedule.
PAS only has 21 MPs in the lower House and would need to rely on Muslim MPs from other parties in order to get a simple majority of 112 votes to get the Bill passed.
Tomorrow, DAP’s national central executive committee (CEC) will hold a meeting to discuss its position in PR following PAS’s hudud manoeuvre in Kelantan.
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