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 and “social contract” that Islam is the official religion but Malaysia is not an Islamic state


Media Conference Statement  (2)
- launching of the second phase of “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957” People’s Awareness Campaign in the Bukit Bendera  parliamentary constituency 
by Lim Kit Siang

(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)


*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman