In view of the heated exchange of statements between Pakatan Rakyat leaders on the issue of hudud, Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has called for a halt on all hudud related statements by Pakatan Rakyat.

Lim was referring to statements made a few days ago by Deputy Menteri Besar of Kelantan, Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah from PAS and DAP National Organising Secretary Anthony Loke.

Mohd Amar had said that DAP and PKR should stay off the hudud bill controversy on the grounds that “they have no right to interfere” in the PAS’s agenda to implement hudud in Kelantan.

This led to Anthony Loke responding the next day, saying that if PAS wanted to act on a unilateral basis on the hudud issue, it should quit Pakatan Rakyat as this would be going against the consensus in Pakatan.

“Both Nik Amar and Anthony should have been more restrained in the public arena in view of the many in Umno/BN who are seeking to “fish in troubled waters”, creating a situation which, in the Chinese saying, cause “friends to grieve and enemies to rejoice”,” said Lim.

He said that Pakatan Rakyat leaders should be guided by their common policy framework and consensus instead of allowing UMNO’s scheming to succeed.

“They [UMNO/BN] believe that they have struck gold and have finally succeeded in putting in place their formula to ensure the end of the political threat posed by Pakatan Rakyat and the return to Putrajaya of UMNO and BN in the 14GE by the perpetuation of the political and power structure of Umno/BN even in the years after 2020,” said Kit Siang.

Lim reminded that the 2011 consensus of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council reaffirmed that hudud is not a Pakatan Rakyat agenda.

He cautioned Pakatan Rakyat component parties and leaders that they must always be aware of the plot of UMNO strategists to cause the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat by magnifying differences between the components, and advised that Pakatan strictly adhere to the common policy framework arrived at by the Pakatan Rakyat parties to be the common national agenda for the country.

“In these circumstances, I would call for an immediate moratorium on statements by Pakatan Rakyat leaders on the latest hudud controversy and to refer the issue to Majlis Pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat for a decision,” said Lim Kit Siang. -The Rocket