KUALA LUMPUR: DAP will review its place in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) following Kelantan PAS’ move to table a bill on hudud, the Islamic penal code, in the state legislative assembly, the party’s national organising secretary Anthony Loke said yesterday.
Calling PAS’ insistence on tabling the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code II 1993 the last straw, Loke said it was a “provocation to split up Pakatan Rakyat”, the opposition pact which was formed in 2008.
He reiterated that the Islamic penal code was never part of the pact’s common policy and the move to proceed with its tabling yesterday was a “betrayal” of the consensus reached at PR’s presidential council meeting.
“Pakatan Rakyat will never succeed in removing Barisan Nasional as long as there are enemies within who are always going against consensus and acting to the tune played by Umno,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“DAP’s leadership will hold a meeting of the central executive committee next Monday in Kuala Lumpur to discuss and decide DAP’s direction with Pakatan Rakyat after being stabbed in the back by Kelantan PAS,” he added.
Loke, who is also Seremban MP, reiterated DAP’s opposition to Kelantan PAS’ push to reintroduce hudud despite objections from other PR members.
“DAP has been consistent in our stand that hudud violates the Federal Constitution and is not suitable for Malaysia’s plural society.
“From the first day of DAP’s cooperation with PAS and PKR under the Pakatan Rakyat framework after the 12th general election in 2007, DAP has always stressed that hudud is not and cannot be part of our common agenda under Pakatan Rakyat,” Loke said.
Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob tabled the amendments to the 1993 Code yesterday. A vote has not been taken yet as legislators will continue debating the bill today.
The passing of the Bill is said to be a foregone conclusion since PAS holds 32 seats in the 45-member assembly. Umno has 12 seats and PKR one. — The Malaysian Insider
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 19, 2015.