Baru Bian chides DAP's Chong for his amnesia
Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian has expressed surprise that its state Pakatan Rakyat partner DAP has issued a threat to withdraw from the opposition coalition if PAS continues to discuss with Umno its plan to implement hudud in Kelantan.
“It’s not so much its threat of withdrawal as Sarawak DAP’s claim that Sarawak PKR has been non-committal on the matter of the proposed implementation of hudud in Kelantan,” said Baru, in an immediate response to the DAP ultimatum.
Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian has expressed surprise that its state Pakatan Rakyat partner DAP has issued a threat to withdraw from the opposition coalition if PAS continues to discuss with Umno its plan to implement hudud in Kelantan.
“It’s not so much its threat of withdrawal as Sarawak DAP’s claim that Sarawak PKR has been non-committal on the matter of the proposed implementation of hudud in Kelantan,” said Baru, in an immediate response to the DAP ultimatum.
Baru said that any reader of two statements he made on the matter, one in April and the other in June, would have entertained no doubt about Sarawak PKR’s stance on the possibility of hudud implementation in Kelantan.
“Both statements made abundantly and completely clear that Sarawak PKR views the move to implement hudud in Kelantan as contrary to the Sarawak Constitution and the terms of the Malaysia Agreement,” said the lawyer whose espousal of native customary rights in respect of land matters in Sarawak has gained him renown in the Dayak community.
Baru referenced two statements he made - “Sarawak under no obligation to follow PM on Hudud Law” dated April 30, 2014 and “Sarawak agreed to the formation of a Secular Malaysia,” on June 18 - to bolster his point that the claim by Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen ( left ) that the state PKR was non-committal on hudud was “unsustainable.”
Baru said he was “puzzled” by Chong’s stance and that though it was pointless for him to speculate as to the DAP leader’s motives in formulating it, he was nevertheless “deeply disappointed” because of the imminence of the Sarawak state election.
The last state election was held in April 2011 and though observers speculate that newfangled Chief Minister Adenan Satem would want his government to go to full term – which means the state election would not be held earlier than 2016 – others believe Adenan CM could opt for an early dissolution of the current state assembly.
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