(Pulau Tikus, Penang, Saturday):
For
the first time in my 36 years of political life, I find myself in a most
unprecedented position when I read the newspapers this morning about the Pendang
and Anak Bukit by-election news.
Campaigning
for the Barisan Nasional candidates, the MCA Vice President Datuk Seri Ong Ka
Ting called on the Chinese voters to voice their protest over the controversial
hudud laws.
He
said PAS is trying to capture Federal power to
amend the Malaysian Constitution and turn Malaysia into an Islamic State, and
the final victims will be the non-Muslims.
He
said that the Federal Constitution had the support of the founding fathers and
must remain supreme.
On
the other hand, campaigning for the Barisan Alternative candidates, the Parti
Keadilan Nasional Central Publiciity Bureau attacked the Barisan Nasional
Chinese leaders for their silence on UMNO’s
declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic State and statement that the
hudud laws would be implemented at the right time, and only attacking the PAS
for its Islamic state and hudud law.
I
agree with Ong Ka Ting that voters must say a clear “No” to
the PAS Hudud and Qisas
Enactment passed by the Terengganu State Assembly on Monday and the PAS
intention of establish an Islamic State in disregard of the 1957 Merdeka
Constitution, “social contract” and 1963 Malaysia Agreement that Islam is
the official religion but Malaysia is not an Islamic State.
But I
also agree with the KeAdilan statement attacking the MCA and Gerakan leaders for
their support for the “929 Declaration” by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at the Gerakan national assembly on Sept. 29 last year that
Malaysia is an Islamic State and their silence to the statement by the Religious
Adviser to the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Hamid Othman on July 1 that the Barisan
Nasional government intends to introduce hudud laws in the country when the
situation was right.
This
is the dilemma faced by the DAP in the two Kedah by-elections.
DAP
does not want a Barisan Nasional victory in the two Kedah by-elections which
could be used by Mahathir and UMNO
to claim that Mahathir’s
“929 Declaration” at the Gerakan national assembly on Sept. 29 last
year that Malaysia is an Islamic State has the support of the voters, that the
Anwar Ibrahim issue is dead and that the Barisan Nasional government has the
mandate to continue with its undemocratic and unjust policies.
However,
DAP also does not want the two by-elections to be used as a mandate for the
enactment of the Hudud and Qisas Bill in Terengganu or approval for PAS’
Islamic State which goes against
the 1999 Barisan Alternative Common Manifesto and destroys the whole rationale
for the establishment of the Barisan Alternative.
DAP
calls for an end to the unhealthy competition between PAS and UMNO to
“out-Islam” each other and for both to return to the 1957 Merdeka
Constitution, the “social
contract” and the 1963 Malasia Agreement that
Islam is the official religion but Malaysia is not an Islamic state.
The
Acting PAS President and Terengganu Mentri Besar, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang
should announce that PAS would stop all
development and implementation of the Hudud and Qisas Bill, including the
withholding of the Bill from the Sultan of Terengganu for royal assent, until
the fullest national multi-racial and multi-religious consensus could be reached
to avoid gravely splitting the plural Malaysian nation and that such suspension
of the Hudud and Qisas Bill takes immediate effect.
Unless
Hadi can give assurance that the Hudud and Qisas Bill is suspended until there is national multi-racial and
multi-religious consensus, it is virtually impossible for DAP to render any form
of assistance in the Pendang and Anak Bukit by-elections.
(13/7/2002)