I am shocked at the justification by the PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang for violating the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Leadership Council decision on Feb. 8, 2015 that any amendment to the 1995 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Enactment and any private member’s bill in Parliament on hudud implementation should first be presented at the PR Leadership Council.

Both these consensus decisions of the PR Leadership Council meeting of Feb. 8, which was attended by Hadi personally, were violated as the 2015 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Enactment and Hadi’s private member’s bill motion in Parliament were never presented first to the PR Leadership Council.

From Hadi’s justification, he is in fact propounding a political creed where the end justifies the means which seems to be at odds with the essence of Islam on the universal values of justice and trust (adil dan amanah).

Hadi said that whether UMNO is sincere or not, PAS has to accept talks with UMNO on hudud.

He told a PAS forum yesterday:

“Umno wants to co-operate with us, then we co-operate. Whether or not they are sincere, let Allah decide.

“It is not for us to decide if they are sincere or not. As of now, we should just take their gesture as sincere. The rest is up to Allah.”

It is Hadi’s prerogative to decide whether PAS should work with UMNO, regardless of PAS experience with UMNO and the late Tok Guru Nik Aziz’s injunction that UMNO can never be trusted or the prevalent view that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom was merely laying a devious trap to destabilize, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat with his purported offer of Federal Government support to the PAS Kelantan State Government to implement hudud.

However, he should be honest and honourable enough to inform the other two parties in Pakatan Rakyat, i.e. DAP and PKR, of such an important change in the political position of PAS in Pakatan Rakyat, as it is tantamount to a fundamental breach and violation of the PR Common Policy Framework and the operational consensus principle of PR that no single party or political leader can veto or override any PR decision.

Was Hadi’s decision to ditch Pakatan Rakyat made before or after the Feb. 8, 2015 meeting of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council at PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur?

Was it a decision made by Hadi himself as PAS President or by the PAS Central Committee leadership?

Hadi as good as blamed DAP and PKR for causing PAS to co-operate with UMNO in trying to enforce hudud criminal penalities in Kelantan, claiming that the opposition from the other two parties in PR had left PAS with no other choice.

Had Hadi ever raised at the PR Leadership Council that PAS is ditching the PR Common Policy Framework and is going headlong to co-operate with UMNO on hudud implementation in Kelantan?

Neither Hadi nor any PAS leader have ever raised such a matter at the PR Leadership Council.

This is not the first time Hadi had arbitrarily and single-handedly sought to veto or overrule a consensus decision of the PR Leadership Council.

The first time was during the May 2013 General Elections when Hadi authorized PAS candidature to contest in six state assembly seats in the country which were allotted to PKR, resulting in three-cornered fights and the loss of PR in these seats.

The second time was Hadi’s overruling of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council decision on August 17, 2014 which was attended by the top leaderships of DAP, PKR and PAS (although Hadi was absent) that the PKR President Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail be appointed as Selangor Mentri Besar.

The third time was Hadi’s breach of his personal commitment at the PR Leadership Council meeting of Feb. 8, 2015 that any amendment to the 1995 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Enactment and any private member’s bill in Parliament on hudud implementation would first be presented to the PR Leadership Council.

Hadi had never given notice to the PR Leadership Council that PAS would renege and violate the PR Common Policy Framework, on the basis of which PAS and Pakatan Rakyat contested in the 13th General Elections and PAS won 21 Parliamentary and 85 State Assembly seats, making significant headway outside the traditional northern Malay states such as Pahang, Selangor, Malacca and Johor.

Hadi as PAS President had given a solemn commitment not only to the other two PR component parties, but also to the multi-racial and multi-religious electorate in Malaysia in the 13th General Elections that PAS would be guided by the PR Common Policy Framework.

Nobody can stop Hadi from reneging on his commitments under the PR Common Policy Framework but he should not try to put the blame of such a fundamental breach and violation on others, as neither DAP nor PKR had violated the PR Common Policy Framework or been dishonest and dishonourable about our undertakings and commitments.