The passing of the amendment to the Syariah Criminal Code 11 1993 in Kelantan is uncalled for at a time when Malaysia is inundated with serious economic and financial debacles and dilemmas - the RM42 billion 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) loan, weakening of the ringgit, high cash outflow, the 16 years continuous budget deficit, rising prices and wages stagnation, rising extremism and fundamentalism supporting Isil, to name a few.
While the whole nation is grappling and coming to term with these issues, PAS has unilaterally created another constitutional crisis by passing this punitive and primitive law. Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz said that only “stupid people” will talk about hudud law in Malaysia.
PAS claims that they have tabled and passed the bill democratically but this bill removes all democratic rights of both Muslims and non-Muslims. The peer pressure within the Malay/Muslim community silences people from voicing out their opposition against hudud. Even those few who honestly voice out like the satirical artist of BFM are threatened with murder and rape.
PAS ulamas and Umno supporters of hudud did not speak against these threats. They seem to accept and tolerate rape and murder threats but cannot accept an honest opinion of this punitive and primitive Syariah law. PAS ulama’s narrow interpretation of punitive laws is reducing the status and dignity of Syariah laws.
Obviously Umno is playing the devil’s advocate to push hudud as a legislation to deliberately break the unified opposition. Umno should not spite the opposition to hurt the country and itself. Umno creates a national crisis whenever it is confronted with serious scandals and internal strife. Operasi Lalang and even Umno Baru were staged and hosted to avert and divert serious challenges to the Umno leadership.
Umno has shrewdly coaxed PAS’ ulama faction to table the hudud bill to divert public attention from 1MDB, the goods and services tax (GST) and rising prices.
PAS’ ulama faction and Umno have failed to reckon on the sprinkling of support emerging for IS militants and growing fundamentalism. Malaysia doesn’t need more religious laws that will encourage extremism.
The moderate group’s growth and acceptance within PAS makes the ulama vulnerable and not confident of themselves. They lean on Umno to gain support and financial aid and this lethal partnership is destroying what our founding fathers painstakingly built.
Umno’s support for the Syariah Criminal Code 11 1993 amendment in the Kelantan state assembly is blatantly clear after 12 of its assemblypersons voted for the bill. It will be a flagrant deviation from the stand taken in the so-called global movement for moderation by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Umno’s support for the hudud bill clearly violates the 18/20 point agreement with Sarawak and Sabah. The first point says that while there was no objection to Islam being the national religion of Malaysia, there should be no state religion in North Borneo, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present constitution of Malaya should not apply to North Borneo. Therefore this hudud bill is not applicable in multiracial Malaysia.
S RAMAKRISHNAN is a former senator.
