After telling DAP to stay out of Kelantan’s move to implement hudud law, a Umno minister has turned on his own BN partner to do the same.

 

Umno supreme council member and minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was reported yesterday telling Gerakan and MCA not to interfere with the hudud implementation because matters concerning Islam “had nothing to do with them”, according to Umno owned Utusan Malaysia .

 

“The actions of Gerakan and MCA, which are BN component parties, is not justified.

 

“If Umno has shown full support (for hudud), they should bring this matter up to the highest council in BN and not suddenly make their own stand out in the open,” said the minister.

 

“Hudud law has nothing at all to do with them, because its implementation is for Muslims.

 

“What connection does hudud have with them, since this issue does not have any effect on them when it is implemented eventually,” Ismail was reported saying in Utusan 's website early this morning.

 

He said Gerakan should not interfere with Islamic affairs, “just as we have never interfered with their religious affairs.”

Gerakan, MCA 'hidden agenda'?

 

Gerakan and MCA have been up in arms against DAP for what they claim is failure to stop Pakatan partner PAS Kelantan from tabling a bill to implement the Islamic penal code in the state.

 

The bill was passed at the Kelantan assembly yesterday with the support of Umno assemblypersons.

 

This paves the way for PAS to table a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament to make the final amendments to make implementation possible at state level.

 

Gerakan's national legal and human rights bureau chief Baljit Singh yesterday urged DAP's two Muslim MPs and PKR's 16 to make a clear stand if they would vote for the hudud bill if the matter is tabled in Parliament.

Ismail said all parties have to “respect the feelings of Muslims because a majority support that the Kelantan Private Member’s Bill on hudud be executed.

He said MCA and Gerakan’s objections “show they completely do not respect and try to interfere with Islamic matters”.

The Umno leader further criticised his BN partners for not opposing it earlier when the enactment was first passed in Kelantan in 1993.

“Why are they only opposing it now? If they are really consistent, they should have taken legal action long ago since (they claim) it will affect non-Muslims, or perhaps they have a hidden agenda,” he added.