Hudud not first priority for PAS, says sec-gen
By Syed Mu’az Syed Putra
January 26, 2011
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/hudud-not-first-priority-for-pas-says-sec-gen/
Mustafa said that Barisan Nasional was trying to play up racial sentiments to create animosity between the voters and PR.
LABIS, Jan 26 — PAS has pledged that it will not implement hudud if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) takes over the federal government although it will not budge from pushing for Islamic policies.
Its secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali said this today in Tenang, Johor where MCA has made the Islamic state pursued by PAS a major issue for the January 30 polls.
“Even if PAS had absolute power with two-thirds majority in Parliament, the first thing that PAS will do is not hudud,” he said in a press conference this morning.
Mustafa said that it could not implement hudud immediately upon taking over the federal government as there were preconditions such as economic justice, minimum wage and punishing rulers if poor people had to steal before the laws could be introduced.
He added that hudud was not in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Common Policy Framework.
MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has attacked PAS’s Islamic state policy in the Tenang campaign, where he was reported to have said that voting for Normala was voting for an Islamic state.
The former health minister had said that even though DAP was an ally in PR, it could not stop PAS from continuing its Islamic state policies.
“If PR wins at the federal level, I feel that it is not possible. PAS will be the leader as the party with more resources as compared to DAP and PKR,” Dr Chua said.
Mustafa said that Barisan Nasional (BN) was trying to play up racial sentiments to create animosity between the voters and PR.
“When they go to a Chinese area, they say DAP is following PAS. When they go to a Malay area, they will say that PAS is being used by DAP instead.
“This is racial politics. When Soi Lek says DAP will do whatever PAS wants, that is hudud, I will just be clear and say that Islam is PAS’s policy and we have never moved from that stand.
“Islam is our policy and must be accepted by all, whether PAS or Umno but if Umno only wants to use it halfway, then that’s up to them,” he said.
The issue of implementing hudud, or Islamic criminal law, and establishing an Islamic state has often caused tension between the Islamic party and its PR partners, especially DAP.
Hudud imposes strict punishment including amputation for stealing and stoning for fornication and has been used, especially by MCA, in the Tenang by-election to campaign against PAS candidate Normala Sudirman.
Last night, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng also accused MCA of raising the Islamic state issue to block non-Muslims from recognising that Islam is the official religion of the country.
The Penang chief minister said that Dr Chua raised the issue to attack PAS and instil fear in non-Malays before the Tenang polls this Sunday.
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