Following the passing of Kelantan’s hudud bill amendments, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has expressed misgivings about trusting certain PAS leaders.

 

Without naming them, he decried that the PAS-led Kelantan government has tabled what amounted to an entirely new law instead of just amendments to the original 1993 syariah enactment.

 

“Can DAP continue to cooperate with some of these PAS national leaders on the Pakatan Rakyat national platform when their promises and words have no value and are no different from Umno’s?

 

“By falling into Umno’s trap and betraying Pakatan consensus and common policy by passing hudud laws in the Kelantan state assembly, PAS Kelantan may have destroyed its electoral prospects in Kelantan and has brought closer Umno’s dreams of destroying Pakatan,” he said in a statement today.

 

He claimed that during Pakatan’s previous leadership council meeting on Feb 8, Pakatan leaders were given the assurance that only four amendments would be made.

 

'No substitute'

He said the betrayal by PAS has “sealed the fate” for both Kelantan PAS and Pakatan itself.

 

He also said that since Umno assemblypersons had voted in favour of the law, hudud was no longer an issue that can be held against the party.

 

This gives Kelantan Umno the opportunity to leverage on BN’s ability to bring development compared to the poor governance in Kelantan, Lim noted.

 

He highlighted the recent survey by independent pollster Merdeka Centre, which found that 81 percent of Kelantan respondents believe the state should focus on rebuilding the damages caused by floods late last year rather than on hudud implementation.

“There is simply no substitute for good governance as Malaysians generally seek a better life for their children,” said Lim.