The DAP Penang State Committee views BN’s collusion with PAS and support of the hudud bill in Parliament as a dangerous precedent that threatens the sanctity of our Federal Constitution and the social contract that was forged at the founding of our nation.
On Thursday 26 May 2016, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dato’ Seri Azalina Othman Said moved a motion to prioritise the PAS president Dato’ Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s tabling of his private member’s bill over government bills that were scheduled to be tabled on that day.
As a result, Hadi was allowed to move a motion to table his bill that seeks to amend the Syariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965. If the amendments are passed, it would grant the Syariah Court extended powers in imposing punitive measures that would far exceed the existing limits of three years jail, five lashes and a fine of not more than RM5,000.
While the bill does not explicitly allow the full implementation of hudud, such as the amputation of limbs and stoning to death, the amendment would certainly pave the way and open the floodgates for future widening of powers of the syariah courts.
Hadi’s bill was no surprise, as he had been attempting to table it for three parliamentary sessions in a row. In fact, it was the tabling of this bill that led to the break-up of Pakatan Rakyat last year. However, what came as a shock was the BN’s government motion to support it. Such an action is unprecedented, as no private member’s bill has ever been prioritised over government business in the history of the Malaysian Parliament.
Clearly, Azalina’s motion would not have been possible without the express approval of the BN government. Hence, it is indisputably proven that BN and PAS are in collusion over the hudud bill.
Furthermore, the passing of the bill will only serve the BN agenda of driving a wedge between the already-fragile relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in the country. Clearly, this is what BN and PAS are trying to achieve, with DAP now singled out as being anti-Islam for rejecting the bill, despite the fact that many others including BN component parties such as MCA, MIC, Gerakan and others have openly rejected it as well.
This shows that there is a political motive at play. Unfortunately, BN and PAS are willing to sacrifice the foundations of our nation for short-term political gain.
DAP Penang strongly rejects this bill as we believe that the spirit and sanctity of our original Federal Constitution must be preserved. Limits were imposed on syariah laws for a reason, and the wisdom behind it is to ensure there does not exist one country with two systems of criminal justice. We believe that this wisdom must prevail if we are to ensure that all Malaysians are treated with fairness, justice and equality before the law.
Therefore, DAP Penang has resolved that all seven DAP MPs from Penang will vote to reject the bill in the next parliamentary session.