Hudud legislation amendment is not the same as hudud implementation in Kelantan, DAP has hit out at its’ rivals today.
In an open letter to MCA President Liow Tiong Lai and Gerakan President Mah Siew Keong, DAP Parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said the BN leaders were playing a “hypocritical game of political desperadoes, bankrupts and cowards” when suggesting that Lim quit as MP for Gelang Patah if PAS succeeds in implementing hudud in Kelantan.
“The MCA and Gerakan Ministers and leaders are either ignorant or pretendng to be ignorant so that they could ground a prolonged political offensive on such a false premise,” said Lim, pointing out that hudud legislation amendments are not tantamount to the implementation of the Islamic law in the state.
Hudud, or the Syariah Criminal Code had already been enacted by PAS in 1993 in the state. Lim explained that despite this, it had not been implemented because it ran counter to the Federal Constitution.
“It will be most pathetic if I have to educate MCA and Gerakan ministers and leaders the simple knowledge that an amendment to an unconstitutional Enactment will only produce an unconstitutional and unenforceable Enactment with an unenforceable and unconstitutional amendment!” he said.
Terengganu Syariah Criminal Offence (Hudud and Qisas) Enactment in 2003 had not translated into an implementation of the law for that same reason, he said.
“If the MCA and Gerakan Ministers and leaders still cannot understand this simple point, I am prepared to offer them free tuition courses in their party headquarters,” he added.
Lim said that for the law to be implemented, it would need a subsequent Parliamentary endorsement.
Any amendment to the hudud legislation in the Kelantan State Assembly on 18 March 2015, he said, would be a status quo just as it had been for 22 years since 1993.
In his strongly worded letter, he also asked both Liow and Mah to resign from Cabinet if Kelantan UMNO Assemblymen are allowed by the UMNO leadership to support PAS hudud legislation in Kelantan State Assembly next month.
“I am penning this pre-Cabinet Open Letter to the MCA President, Liow Tiong Lai (Transport Minister) and the Gerakan President, Mah Siew Keong (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department) to inquire whether the Barisan Nasional has altered its stand taken by the founding fathers of the nation that hudud legislation is against the Federal Constitution and the secular character of the nation,” he said.
This is in light of growing concerns that UMNO and PAS may not only support the legislation amendment, but that both parties may form a “Unity Government” (UG) following the death of PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat – who had opposed the idea and was seen as the “stumbling block” to realizing this idea that had been mooted by certain factions in PAS. This move also threatens to end Pakatan’s alliance with the Islamic party.
“What is the stand of MCA and Gerakan on this “UG” government issue – was it ever discussed in the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council or the Cabinet?” he asked.
-The Rocket
