(Penang, Saturday): Acting PAS President and Terengganu Mentri Besar, Datuk
Seri Abdul Hadi Awang was right when he said that PAS’ failure to secure the
Chinese votes is the cause of its defeat in Pendang and the reduced majority in
Anak Bukit, but wrong when he said this
was because PAS had failed to attract Chinese voters to attend its ceramah
during the campaigning period in both the constituencies.
The reason why PAS had failed to attract the support of the
Chinese voters in the Pendang and Anak Bukit by-elections was not because the
Chinese voters did not attend PAS
ceramahs, but solely because of the hasty and ill-considerred enactment of the
Terengganu Syariah Criminal Offences (Hudud and Qisas) Bill
by the PAS-controlled Terengganu
State Assembly two days before the nominations of the two Kedah by-elections.
No number of PAS ceramahs can counter or erase the six objections to the hudud and qisas bill rushed through by the Pas Terengganu state government, namely that it is:
Against the Malaysian Constitution;
Violates human rights;
Discriminates against women;
Destroys the 1999 Barisan Alternative Common Manifesto,
Flouts widespread objections of the civil society; and
Will put great pressure on UMNO in the unhealthy competition between the two parties to out-Islam each other.to the great detriment of the orderly development and progress of plural Malaysia.
It is not just PAS but the entire Barisan Alternative which
must swiftly and fully return to the 1999 Barisan Alternative Common Manifesto
“Towards A Just Malaysia” – which implicitly excluded an Islamic state or
any hudud and qisas enactment – as it is not PAS alone which will lose
Chinese, non-Malay and non-Muslim as well as liberal Malay support, Parti
Keadilan Nasional will be an even greater casualty in forfeiting Chinese,
non-Malay, non-Muslim as well as liberal Malay support for agreeing to the
destruction of the BA Common Manifesto, the very basis for the establishment of
the Barisan Alternative before the 1999 general election,
to restore justice, freedom, democracy and good governance.
The BA Common Manifesto was inspired by the sufferings and
injustices suffered by Anwar Ibrahim and other Malaysians -
and by allowing the BA Common Manifesto to be violated, it is tantamount
to allowing the marginalization of the Anwar Ibrahim case.
For this reason, the BA Presidential Council should meet
urgently to show that it could learn from the lessons and results of the Pendang
and Anak Bukit by-elections not only to return swiftly and fully to the 1999 BA
Common Manifesto but also to restore the centrality of the Anwar Ibrahim issue
before it is too late.
(20/7/2002)