I was shocked and outraged to see the PAS President and MP for Marang, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s motion on private member’s bill on hudud implementatilon on the Dewan Rakyat Order Paper today.

This is the first time any leader or MP from DAP and PKR has sight of Hadi’s private member’s bill although Hadi had agreed and promised at the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council meeting on February 8, 2015 that any private member’s bill on hudud implementation must and will be presented to the PR Leadership Council first.

Today we see proof of this undertaking by Hadi on behalf of the PAS at the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council broken and violated.

Hadi’s word is not his bond and he has proved that he cannot be trusted with his promise, undertaking and commitment as PAS President.

This has destroyed the basis of co-operation and even the very accord in the formation seven years ago of the Pakatan Rakyat, which was founded on the Common Policy Framework and the operational consensus principle that every decision in the name of PR could only be made with the consensus of all three parties and no one political party or party leader can veto or overrule the consensus reached by Pakatan Rakyat.

Hadi has violated this consensus principle more than once, the latest being his Feb. 8 undertaking and the PR consensus decision that any private member’s bill on hudud would first be presented to the PR Leadership Council.

Hadi’s private member’s bill motion on the Order Paper today also raises the question of where is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement that UMNO/BN opposes Hadi’s private member’s bill on hudud implementation, which had suffered 18 days of “labour pains”.

Has the Prime Minister’s statement which MCA Ministers have claimed would be issued on March 20 itself suffered a “stillbirth”?

In consistently maintaining that hudud is not in keeping with the fundamental principles of the Malaysian Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 resulting in the formation of the Malaysian federation and unsuitable for a multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia, DAP is not taking an anti-Islam position – as DAP fully accept Islam as the official religion of Malaysia with guarantees of freedom of religion for other faiths.

Are the first five Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah anti-Islam because they also held to the principle that hudud is inconsistent with the Malaysian Constitution, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and unsuitable for a plural society like Malaysia?

A celebrated Malaysian surgeon in California and writer, Bakri Musa recently wrote about hudud in his recent blog, “The Curse of The Obsession With Single-Issue Politics”, where he said:

“Faith is a personal matter. This is especially so with Islam. Our Holy Book says that on the Day of Judgment we would be judged solely by our deeds. We cannot excuse them based on our following the dictates of this great leader or the teachings of that mesmerizing ulama. Islam is also unique in being devoid of a clergy class. There is no pope or priest to mediate between us and Allah, or a prophet who died in order to expiate our sins…

“…. this obsession with hudud does not bring Muslims together. Far from it! Hudud also creates an unnecessary chasm between Muslims and non-Muslims. Islam should bring us together. To Muslims the Koran is the word of Allah, its message for all mankind and till the end of time. That is a matter of faith.

“While hudud is based on the Koran it is not the Koran. The present understanding of hudud is but the version interpreted by the ancient Bedouins. It is the handiwork of mortals, with all its imperfections. We should not be bound by it but be open to more enlightened readings of the holy book…

“What would be the price this time for our fixation with religion? Look at the Middle East today. Ponder Nigeria with its Boko Haram. Contemplate being under the brutal ISIS, the messianic Talibans, or the puritanical Saudis…
“Dispense with this public fixation with religion. Instead focus on adil and amanah (justice and integrity), the tenets of our faith. We cannot be Islamic if we are devoid of both. This should be our pursuit, from eminent Malays to not-so-eminent ones, from Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”

We have to accept that Hadi is prepared to destroy Pakatan Rakyat with his hudud private member’s bill although Barisan Nasional will be ousted from power if it loses just two per cent of support in next general election.

This was the warning of the Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy UMNO President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the UMNO General Assembly last December where he admitted that a loss of two percent voter support will translate to Barisan Nasional being reduced from its 133 seats won in the 13GE in May 2013 to 103 federal seats, which is less than half of the 222-seat Parliament, comprising 68 UMNO seats and 35 non-UMNO seats.

A reduction of five per cent voter support would have slashed the total BN seats to 81, comprising 53 UMNO and 28 non-UMNO seats.

It is precisely this fear of losing Federal power that UMNO strategists and propagandists have manufactured various political conspiracies, the most successful of which has been UMNO’s “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) conspiracy with the bait to PAS on Kelantan hudud implementation – which has virtually drowned out all the issues currently haunting UMNO and Najib – the 1MDB scandal; the GST implementation; the repressive laws; Anwar Ibrahim’s five-year jailing; Mongolian Altantunya Shaariibuu’s 2006 murder and conviction of two former police commandos Azila Hadri and Sirul Azhar with motives neither established nor pursued; the new jet for PM; the lavish spending on wedding of Najib’s daughter and above all, Najib’s survival as Prime Minister and UMNO President with the open challenge by former Prime Minister Mahthir.

This is time for all to go back to the drawing board.

Malaysia is indeed at the political cross-roads.