Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah flayed PAS for not adhering to the common framework policy touted by them during the last elections and instead “lying” about hudud implementation.

 

“PAS in the last elections declared they were a political party for all, but they lied. Don’t say you are PAS for all but withhold information and cheat the citizens who voted for you.

 

“Suddenly you present hudud and expect us to accept it,” she said at the Future of Religious Freedom Forum today.

 

“We don’t even have a full copy of the laws and we don’t know what they are because there was no consultation or dialogue before being passed in Kelantan,” Chin said.

 

Touching on religious freedom, Chin said the reason why Malaysians were afraid to have religious dialogues because they were afraid of being threatened or prosecuted.

 

“We don’t talk about Islam because of this. Not just in our religion but in many other aspects we have been restricted. We can’t speak freely,” she added.

 

She also criticised the government for being iron fisted on those who question religion when the administration itself kept mum on such issues.

 

“We expect the government and its agencies to deliver the justice we hope and not just what is enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

 

“What actually disturbs me is nobody actually referees the agencies. We expect our prime minister to say something but he is silent. Other forces then come into play like Jais, Mais, Jakim,” she asserted.

 

The forum was also paneled by Depaw University’s Religious Studies Professor Jeffrey Kenney, Islamic Renaissance Front founder Ahmad Farouk Musa ( left ) and Dipendra Harshad Rai from the Bar Council.

 

Ahmad Farouk touched on the future of religious freedom in Malaysia.

 

He said the country cannot expect to have any other sorts of freedom like freedom of speech and media if it did not allow religious freedom.

 

"You can’t expect to have freedom of speech or any other freedom at all as it was all inter-related."

He also questioned how Malaysia could be a part of the United Nations when it did not adhere to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). “What’s the point of sitting in the human rights council then?”

 

Speaking on hudud implementation, he believed PAS pushed for Islamic law as a means of retaining power, which he saw as no different from what the government is doing.

 

“If people in Pakatan Rakyat behave the same like those in the government, don’t expect us to join your struggle in defending human rights,” Ahmad cautioned.