SPLIT GETTING WIDER... Debate hudud with me instead, DAP’s Syerleena tells PAS leader

Debate hudud with me instead, DAP’s Syerleena tells PAS leader

Published: 19 December 2014

Zaharuddin Muhammad had called for a 'dialogue' with Lim Guan Eng to hear PAS's argument for hudud. – Pic courtesy Zaharuddin Muhammad Facebook page, December 19, 2014.A Muslim DAP leader from Penang today challenged PAS's Shura Council member Zaharudin Muhammad to a debate on the Islamic party's controversial plan to implement the hudud law in Kelantan.

Syerleena Abdul Rashid, the DAP Socialist Youth's Bukit Bendera secretary as well as DAP Wanita's political education director, issued the challenge after Zaharudin invited Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng to a "dialogue".

Calling the PAS leader's invitation "strange", Syerleena said Zaharuddin seemed to be ignorant of DAP's stand on the hudud issue.

"If he actually spends time to read or to talk to any of DAP leaders, he would have known that the DAP’s stand on hudud and its implementation, in the words of Lim Kit Siang, 'is the same as the stand taken by the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein – that hudud laws go against the Malaysian Constitution which provides for a secular state with Islam as the religion of the Federation and freedom of worship guaranteed for other religions'.

"As a Malaysian and a Muslim, I strongly believe that our priority should be in the absolute eradication of corruption from our country; after all, corruption is the root of most evils that exist in our society today," she said in a statement today.

She said Zaharuddin should debate with her instead, adding that the hudud issue should be discussed based on facts, and "not pure emotion or threats", owing to the severity of the matter.

Zaharudin issued the challenge yesterday after Lim urged Pakatan Rakyat to clearly state it would not implement hudud laws if it took over Putrajaya.

Zaharudin, who is the son-in-law of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, said a dialogue would allow both parties explain their stand on the implementation of the Islamic law.

"I don't mind if YAB, in the dialogue, clearly and loudly state your disagreement with the alternative that PAS has brought, but what the people and I need are facts on why you disagree," he said in his open letter to the DAP secretary-general.

Syerleena said Zaharuddin should understand that the line that separates Malaysia as a secular state from an Islamic one has been blurred, and reminded that the Federal Constitution was in fact secular.

"Being secular does not mean DAP is against Islam or any other religion. What it means is being tolerant, friendly and respectful to all religions. We believe that all are equal before the law," she added.

"Perhaps Zaharudin should ask himself, is he against democracy, freedom, social justice, human rights, gender equality, equal opportunity?"

Hudud has been a long-standing point of contention between PAS and DAP.

The PAS-led Kelantan government recently moved to convene a special meeting of the legislative assembly on December 29 to amend its Islamic laws, to pave the way for a private members' bill in the Parliament.

The private member's bill, when tabled in the Parliament, will need a simple majority of 112 MPs supporting it in order for it to be passed. The bill can be tabled once the Kelantan state assembly passes the amendment to its Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II.

DAP has repeatedly demanded that PAS shelve its plans in Kelantan, stressing that the Islamic criminal code was not part of the opposition's common policy framework.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently admitted that the PAS-led Kelantan government's plans to table an amendment on hudud in its state assembly was problematic, as it had no powers to enforce the Islamic criminal law in the state.

Syerleena said with the move to table the bill in the state assembly to implement the hudud law, PAS has shown its "true colours".

"Never mind that Malaysia is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nation where civil laws have been laid out by our forefathers to protect each and every citizen with sound moral judgment and fairness.

"Never mind if this could single-handedly destroy what the founding members of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition had sought to establish – setting aside our differences and uniting as a coalition for the sake of much needed reforms of this country.

"Never mind if this can devastate voter morale, especially those of our non-Muslim Malaysian brothers and sisters who wholeheartedly believed in the 'Pas-4-All' movement," she said

Source : tmi