PETALING JAYA: PAS central working committee member, Khalid Abdul Samad, said that the DAP should wash its hands of the hudud issue and let the Kelantan people decide for themselves.
“DAP should do a Pontius Pilate and wash its hands (of the issue),” said Khalid, referring to the Roman governor who sealed Jesus Christ’s fate by symbolically washing his hands in water at his trial.
He was commenting on Lim Kit Siang’s statement yesterday that there was a dire prospect of Pakatan Rakyat breaking up over the hudud issue.
Khalid said there was no need for the DAP to overreact and reasoned if Pakatan was to break up over hudud, it would be exactly what Umno had wanted from the beginning.
“There should not be any element of fear on DAP’s part as the hudud issue will not result in any form of constitutional amendment,” said the Shah Alam MP.
“DAP should respect the democratic process. Should the Kelantanese agree to hudud, let it be and should they reject it, let them vote the PAS government out in the next general election.”
The PAS-led Kelantan government would be tabling two private members bills in Parliament in June to implement hudud in the state by next year.
Lim yesterday said that majority of the voters who voted for Pakatan in the last general election did not do so just for hudud.
He said that Pakatan would not have continued to deny Barisan Nasional (BN) its two-thirds parliamentary majority if hudud had been the agenda for Pakatan.
“If hudud becomes a major issue, Pakatan Rakyat may go the way of the previous Barisan Alternatif,” said Lim.
Barisan Alternatif which consisted of DAP, PAS, the National Justice Party and the Malaysian People’s Party (both now known as PKR), saw DAP withdrawing from the coalition in September 2001.
Touching on the incident, fellow PAS central working committee member, Dzulkefly Ahmad, said Lim’s statement yesterday on hudud felt like deja vu.
The former Kuala Selangor MP called for restraint and the good judgment of leaders in the Pakatan coalition for the hudud issue to be resolved.
“The voice of reason should supersede the voice of emotion,” said Dzulkefly.
‘Dirty trick by Umno’
Rationalising how even married couples sometimes resort to divorce, Dzulkefly said that Pakatan component parties should not be foolish enough to follow suit.
“Hudud is just a decoy by BN to ensure that it would not have to face a strong and formidable Pakatan Rakyat in the next general election.
“If Pakatan splits, where is the hope of the rakyat for change after the next general election?”
He also believed that PAS should not be giving the impression that implementing hudud was its supreme aim.
“If PAS portrays that hudud as the be all and end all for it, then it is going headlong into a self-destruct mode and BN will rejoice.
“The most important element of PAS is establishing justice, for the country to be rebuilt on strong foundations and to bring down the corrupt BN.
“Also, the top PAS leadership should not be so naïve to think that Umno would allow hudud to see the light of day,” he said.
Meanwhile, PKR vice-president N Surendran said that the hudud issue is just a “dirty trick by Umno and its media lackeys”.
“Whatever difficulty we are facing is because of the differences of opinions, which is normal in a diverse country.
“People like to play up the differences among Pakatan members. But the camaraderie and resilience in overcoming the many challenges have never been highlighted,” said the Padang Serai MP.
He said that Lim’s statement was a timely reminder so that “we focus on resolving the differences created by BN using the hudud issue.”
“However, I strongly believe that although there are differences, we will eventually overcome all the problems,” he said.