Following PAS Decision Not To Table A Private Member’s Bill On Hudud In June’s Parliament Session, Non-Muslims Should Pressure UMNO As Hard If Not Harder Than PAS, Not to Implement Hudud Laws On Muslims In Kelantan.
PAS unexpectedly gave this year Wesak’s Day a celebrations a positive note when PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang announced that PAS will not table its Private Member’s Hudud Bill in the coming June parliamentary session to implement hudud law in Kelantan, but instead allow a joint technical committee comprising of both PAS and UMNO leaders to make recommendations and take further action.
By withholding any action to give sufficient time to a joint Putrajaya and Kelantan government technical committee to study the implementation of the Kelantan Shariah Penal Code II or hudud laws, will also give time for non-Muslims to pressure UMNO as hard, if not harder than PAS, not to implement these laws.
Pressure must be applied by non-Muslims to UMNO because Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom had started the whole controversy by instigating PAS in Parliament on March 27 2014 to implement hudud on Muslims in Kelantan. Jamil had said that “the federal government will be ready to work with any state government that is ready to implement hudud including Kelantan, because Umno Kelantan assemblypersons had supported the passing of Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II to implement hudud in 1993”.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had then followed up by proposing to form the technical committee between the Kelantan government and BN Federal government to implement hudud in Kelantan, which PAS agreed. Clearly UMNO is the aggressor in trying to entrap PAS to implement hudud as an attempt to break up PR because of DAP’s strong opposition to implementing hudud in Kelantan because this is unconstitutional.
Non-Muslim organisations should pressure UMNO more than PAS because only UMNO and UMNO alone shall determine the success or failure in PAS’ attempt to implement hudud in Kelantan. As UMNO controls the largest number of MPs(88) in Parliament, it is only logical that UMNO must be convinced not to support PAS implementing hudud in Kelantan.
Non-Muslim organisations must not blindly follow MCA and Gerakan’s dishonest tactics of only opposing PAS but not UMNO in wanting to implement hudud in Kelantan. By continuing to only pressure PAS but not UMNO, these non-Muslim organisations are not sincere in opposing hudud laws but revealing their real political colours of supporting MCA, Gerakan, BN and UMNO.