Selective dissatisfaction – pemuda mca bantah hukum Hudud: Apa reaksi pimpinan umno, pejuang bangsa, agama & negara?~ Malaysiakini

Selective dissatisfaction, where were they on the ISA, the MACC and the JAC?

By Wong Choon Mei

A group of MCA Youth members today submitted a memorandum to Pakatan Rakyat partner PAS, protesting the recent call by a PAS leader to implement hudud law if the Islamic-based party came into power.

The MCA move sparked criticism of political opportunism ahead of next month’s crucial parliamentary by-election at Kuala Terengganu.

However, FT Youth chief Chiew Lian Keng said: “We are not satisfied with a statement made by PAS vice president Husam Musa on the implementation of hudud laws in a multi-racial and multi-religious society. It is unacceptable.”

Chiew had together with eight other colleagues visited the PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, where PAS Youth secretary Ahmad Sabki Yusuf received the memorandum on behalf of party president Abdul Hadi Awang.

This is democracy

Husam, a PAS vice president, had made the comments in an open debate with Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin last week. Khairy too was reported to have said that he would introduce hudud if he came into power.

Nevertheless, Khairy has since said he was misquoted.

And Husam has also clarified his statement since, saying that hudud would only be introduced if Pakatan partners KeADILan and DAP agreed. In August, the Pakatan partners had signed an agreement whereby decisions have to be made multi-laterally, with no one party able to impose their views or agenda on the others.

“This is democracy,” said KeADILan information chief Tian Chua. “If PAS on its own wins two-thirds parliamentary majority and if it wants to introduce hudud, who can question them? It would be their right then. But if they win the government together, and I emphasise together, with KeADILan and PAS, they won’t be able to introduce hudud without our consent.”

Tian’s explanation echoed Husam’s.

“PAS will continue with its struggle to implement Hudud law, which is God’s law, by explaining to all quarters, including the Pakatan Rakyat component parties, until they are ready to accept the law,” Husam had clarified after sparking an uproar among the non-Malays.

“We will discuss the hudud law and if they cannot accept its implementation when the time comes, we will postpone it. The Hudud law is still hypothetical. There are other issues that have to take precedence.. What’s wrong with waiting longer? Umno has not done it after more than 50 years in power,” Husam added.

Silence on other fronts

Nevertheless, it has not stopped the MCA nor other non-Malay components of the ruling Barisan Nasional from seizing on the issue, accusing Husam of being insensitive to non-Malay rights, even though hudud is supposed to apply only to Muslims.

Their boss, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, has however chosen to make light of Husam’s comments, saying: “This is an old story … it is nothing new. They (PAS) have not implemented the hudud laws in Kelantan and Terengganu but at every election they raise it as an issue.”

“All this politicking is becoming a bit stale,” said a political watcher in reference to the latest MCA move. “The Chinese community are not dumb-dumbs. I am sure they will also want to know why the MCA has stopped pushing for the Internal Security Act to be abolished, why did they raise so little opposition to the recent MACC and JAC Bills tabled by Abdullah.”

The MACC and JAC Bills are two pieces of anti-graft legislation pushed through by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to empower the Anti-Corruption Agency and to regulate the appointment of judges.

Both laws were panned by political rivals and civil groups, including the Bar Council, for being superficial and ultimately handing the prime minister-of-the-day even greater power than before, when one of the original aims was to reduce the power of the executive.

Not by-election gimmick, then why?

Later, Chiew was grilled by the press if the MCA was trying to gain publicity ahead of the Jan 17 Kuala Terengganu by-election.

“That has nothing to do with this. It is just a coincidence that the statement by PAS came around the election period,” he said.

Chiew added that it could also have been an election ploy by PAS.

Asked why the group chose to submit a memorandum instead of issuing a statement, Chiew could only say: “People always make statements, so this time we thought we would do something different and send in a memorandum.”