COMMENT One way for PAS to know that its private member’s bill will not see the light of day in the upcoming parliamentary session is by listening to the bold declaration by Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong.

In the lead-up to Gerakan’s annual general assembly this weekend, Mah has vowed that he would leave the cabinet if the hudud is passed in Parliament.

Gerakan, being privy to any cabinet decision, will be able to tell whether there is sufficient support for the Islamist party president Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill.

The bill has been sidelined twice, and overtaken by other bills that are more important to the ruling party.

Within PAS, prior to the departure of former PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu to set up Amanah, through the grapevine it was learnt that lawyer Hanipa Ali had advised Hadi that his private member’s bill could not be passed as it was defective.

Hadi ( photo ) is said to be nonchalant about it. According to feedback received from a party insider, the bill was based on a section of the law that did not even exist at all.

They say that this will bring disgrace to Hadi and PAS as a whole. The blame would then fall on the parliamentarians who voted against it, rather than PAS not fulfilling its promise to the people in Kelantan.

Things, they said, would have been different if former PAS spiritual leader Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat were still alive. “Tok Guru would not allow this to happen,” a party insider said. “Today, PAS is in a different set of hands.”

Mah not seen as a hero

In the comments that were immediately posted after the article, one reader wrote: “Mah Siew Keong,the hudud bill will not see the light of day in Parliament and even if it does, the support for hudud in Parliament will fail miserably, with or without your support.

“If you want to be a hero, Mah Siew Keong, just ask publicly the 1MDB PM Najib (Abdul Razak) to account for the RM2.6 Billions wired into his personal account, and by the way, how much ‘derma’ did Party Gerakan receive for the 13th GE.You are one of the many kaki bodek who showed up at KLIA to welcome home the hero of 1MDB, after his shopping trip in Milan, Italy.

“Malaysians are not stupid, Mah Siew Keong, and do not try to he a hero when you are just another powerless politician.”

In fact, it is not difficult to see through Mah’s ‘heroic’ declarations. There are after all another few days to go before the coming Gerakan general assembly. Mah will have to make statements that put him in the good books of his fellow party members.

Failing to garner enough support to remain as Gerakan’s president, he would immediately lose his position as a member of Prime Minister Najib’s cabinet.

It would be interesting to see if his fellow members would question Mah’s integrity when he made such a bold declaration.

For example, why is it that Umno state assemblypersons in Kelantan who voted for the hudud laws had not appealed to the Umno central committee to gather support at the national level, or members of Perkasa had not burnt Mah’s effigy, or some unknown person splashed red paint on Gerakan’s headquarters?

How is that Mah can make a bold declaration of this nature and yet not receive the wrath of the Malay and Muslim community in this country? The answer is - politics.

If it were a person from Pakatan Harapan, for example, challenging the hudud laws in court, all hell would have broken lose.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.