KUALA LUMPUR: The soon-to-be announced Islamist party formed by ousted PAS professionals will place a higher importance on good governance than hudud, a member of the Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB) committee said yesterday.

Former PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad told a forum at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus in Kuala Lumpur that while the new party would not abandon hudud altogether, good governance is the epitome of syariah (Islamic law).

“Hudud is not the be-all and end-all of our struggles, especially for Gerakan Harapan Baru. We want to achieve the true purpose and objective of syariah, which I dare say predominantly hinges on good governance.

“And good governance is not the creation of the West. There are a lot more verses about good governance than hudud in the Quran,” Dzulefly told the forum entitled “Rethinking civil society, Islamism and democracy”.

He said it is wrong to focus on the parts of syariah that are “punitive in nature” alone, adding that there is more to Islamic law than hudud.

“Syariah as described by the real jurists of Islam is equal to a house, and the gate around it, which secures the house, is said to be the penal code (hudud).

“If you don’t have a house, any semblance of a house, would it be sensible to even talk about having the penal code? So, that’s how we put it across,” said Dzulkefly.

He said the new party’s emphasis on good governance is what allows it to forge alliances with other parties, based on a common policy framework. This is unlike PAS, which recently ended ties with DAP over their differences on hudud.

Dzulkefly added that the new party would not use religion as a tool to quash debate over its policy proposals. Instead, it would allow the people to judge them based on how effective they are.

He said any Islamic policy would be presented through democratic means, and would not be forced upon the people or see a “back-door implementation”.

For instance, hudud would have to be thoroughly discussed through a “national dialogue” before it could see the light of day in Parliament, said Dzulkefly.

GHB, which was formed in June by 18 of PAS’ most well-known parliamentarians and personalities, is expected to announce the formation of a new Islamist party next month.

The GHB founders mainly comprise those who lost their leadership positions in the PAS elections in early June.

The new party is expected to join up with DAP and PKR to form a new opposition coalition, after seven-year-old Pakatan Rakyat officially ceased functioning in June. Many of the new party’s members are expected to be from PAS. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on August 10, 2015.