Archive for category PAS
MCA’s hudud stand – the mouse that squeaked
By Koon Yew Yin
Malaysiakini
Mar 21, 2015
COMMENT Why is it that politicians in Malaysia finally talk some sense when they become ex-politicians? I am referring to Dr Chua Soi Lek, former MCA president, who since his departure from the leadership position, has been talking more sense than before.
In fact, so much so that some Malaysians may even reconsider their negative opinion on him. His latest public skewering of MCA is well worth disseminating.
According to Chua, MCA should not be pointing fingers at the DAP but should prevent UMNO from supporting PAS’ parliamentary hudud bill. In his statement, he pointed out that “if Umno MPs support PAS’ private bill in Parliament, MCA cannot continue to ignore the elephant in the room and blame others for supporting PAS hudud in Kelantan.”
Further, he noted that “to continue issuing statements condemning DAP is an exercise of futility. The Malaysian community expects more from MCA and it is time for MCA leadership to rise to the occasion.” Read the rest of this entry »
Mastermind of UMNO’s “UG”conspiracy achieved an unexpected coup within a year when the Kelantan hudud enactment question completely drowned out all issues currently haunting UMNO and Najib
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Saturday, 21 March 2015
The mastermind of UMNO’s “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) conspiracy achieved an unexpected coup within a year when the Kelantan hudud enactment question completely drowned out all the issues currently haunting UMNO and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – the 1MDB scandal; 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.
The latest bait in the UMNO UG conspiracy was unveiled only on March 27 last year when the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic affairs, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, surprised even PAS leaders with his completely unanticipated overture in Parliament that the UMNO/Barisan Nasional federal government was ready to work with the PAS Kelantan state government to implement the hudud law in Kelantan.
The first fruit of the latest gambit in the UMNO UG conspiracy was the re-enactment of the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code as the 2015 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code with slight amendments on 19th March 2015 and the second fruit, the notification by the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang to Parliament on March 18 to move a private member’s bill to implement hudud law in Kelantan.
As orchestrated by the deep plot of the UMNO UG conspirators, these two fruits were achieved in furtherance of their real objective to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat because PAS had to break ranks not only with Pakatan Rakyat parties but also betrayed its commitments to Pakatan Rakyat, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
Impact of Kelantan’s hudud on all of us
By Wong Chin Huat
Malaysiakini
Mar 20, 2015
COMMENT The most common myth on the Kelantan syariah criminal code, hudud, that was passed by its state assembly yesterday and spread by its proponents – including the so-called moderates in PAS – is that it will not affect non-Muslims.
Legal apartheid between Muslims and non-Muslims will allow the proponents to accuse the non-Muslim critics of the syariah criminal system of “intervening in Muslim affairs”, “obstructing Muslims from fulfilling their religious authorities” and even “opposing Islam”.
The silence of the non-Muslims is vital in turn for the silencing of Muslim criticism.
While the world’s top Islamic scholars, such as Prof Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi and Prof Tariq Ramadhan have argued directly against the implementation of hudud punishments on grounds this will cause injustice to the powerless among the Muslims, many Muslims in Malaysia who do not want hudud however fall back instead on the presence of the non-Muslims in our country. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS’s folly – awareness and containment
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Saturday, 21 March 2015
By Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
Mar 20, 2015
COMMENT In the introduction of the Kelantan hudud bill its architect declared that those who question whether the legislation would bring in equal justice are “liars and immoral”.
This unbecoming language is what one expects of a fanatic dictator, rather than a genuine democratic leader. It speaks to the decay in the political fabric of Malaysia that is coming from leaders, who have lost the plot in having a national consciousness and the broader decline taking place in democratic governance. Given the passage of the Kelantan hudud bill, what are the likely political implications that will evolve from this measure?
Some political parties will begin the politics of containment, while others will fan division and will continue to use hudud for political gains. As of now, it is important to remember that no hudud measure will take effect. They are all measures on paper.
With respect to those who favour these measures, on many levels hudud does not holistically reflect the ideas of justice embodied in Islam or any faith for that matter and brings to light serious questions about fairness and administration of the rule of law for all of Malaysia’s citizens.
The stoning, chopping and whipping urged in the enactments are now threats over the public without adequate protections; they make up the politics of fear that has been deeply engrained in the Malaysian political landscape.
No implementation does not mean that there measures are not unimportant. Quite the contrary. The people of Kelantan in particular will be hurt economically by the bill, as its leaders across the political divide failed them in thinking holistically about their development. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS’s hudud folly – it’s not chosen by all
Posted by Kit in Bridget Welsh, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Friday, 20 March 2015
By Bridget Welsh | 2:56PM Mar 18, 2015
Malaysiakini
The introduction of the hudud amendments today in Kelantan have yet another origin beyond democratic dynamics within the party. They are based on a calculated effort to win votes, namely to strengthen the support of PAS’s core supporters and to strengthen the position of PAS vis-à-vis the coalition partners inside Pakatan.
Ironically, the hudud measures do neither, and potentially undermine the party’s standing as a national party and within its own electoral base. In this second piece, I lay out how misguided the revitalized hudud initiative is for a political party whose stated aim is to hold national power.
Over-reacting to Umno pressure
In the defensive mode of the PAS party leadership, the party have been responding to others rather than setting its own course. The most effective actor influencing PAS has been Umno. Opting for offensive attacks, Umno has successfully convinced PAS that is it losing ground among Muslims. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS’s hudud folly – a political putsch
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Thursday, 19 March 2015
By Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
Mar 17, 2015
COMMENT Tomorrow the Islamist party PAS is scheduled to introduce ‘minor’ amendments to the hudud legislation it introduced in Kelantan in 1993.
The bill cannot be implemented as the constitution currently prevents the legislation from having effect. Although limited in scope, the move nevertheless will have significant consequences as it brings to the fore political dynamics within the party and showcases how the PAS would govern.
At its core, the amendment introduction is a political exercise aimed at shoring up a Kelantan PAS state government that has lost its moral authority with the passing of respected leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and in the wake of devastating floods where the state government proved to be completely ineffectual.
This process of introducing the amendments and the political implications signal that the current conservative ulama leadership of PAS is apparently no longer meaningfully interested in democratic principles and holding national power.
This action of moving to strengthen hudud if fully realised will have negative electoral implications even within Kelantan itself.
To say that this a folly is perhaps an understatement, as it potentially marks a turning point for PAS as a trusted and viable party in national government. This is the first article of a three part series that looks at this issue. Read the rest of this entry »
Impossible to trust PAS again, says Ambiga
by Looi Sue-Chern
The Malaysian Insider
18 March 2015
Civil society leader and former Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said PAS has betrayed the trust of the people who had voted for them on Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) platform, after the Islamist party went ahead to table a bill in the Kelantan state legislative assembly to reintroduce hudud in the state.
She said she was shocked and disappointed at PAS for what bringing back the Islamic penal code – a move which she said was in breach of PR’s common policy and a betrayal of voters who had supported PAS based on a shared platform with allies DAP and PKR.
“After this, it will be near impossible for them to regain that trust,” she told The Malaysian Insider today.
Ambiga said the PAS-led Kelantan administration should seriously look at its priorities, considering that the state was only recently hit by its worst floods in decades.
“The state and its wonderful people have not even begun to recover from the devastating floods and yet that does not seem to be at the top of the agenda for the state government,” she said. Read the rest of this entry »
Hammering the hudud wedge into Pakatan
By Liew Chin Tong
Malaysiakini
Mar 17, 2015
MP SPEAKS To drive a wedge is to cause hostility or disagreement between two parties. In Malaysia, the implementation of the Islamic criminal code or hudud is one such wedge that is designed to break Pakatan Rakyat, and to bolster the position of the pro-Umno elements in PAS vis-à-vis the pro-Pakatan leaders.
I may be a DAP leader but I write this piece as a former academician who has devoted four years of my younger life, a decade and half ago, to understand the internal dynamics of PAS, with several academic publications on the subject.
I see myself as a long-time friend of the PAS that strives to defeat Umno at the ballot boxes, together with all Malaysians. For me, the PAS faction that is working secretly with Umno on the basis of asabiyyah (racial allegiance) should be regarded as a common enemy by all those who wish to see a Malaysia with a new clean, trustworthy, democratic and fair government.
The hudud debate did not figure much in the national discourse, even among the circle of top leaders in PAS, since 1950s. Phrases such as “Negara Islam” and “hudud” only became popular from the 1980s onward, especially after Anwar Ibrahim joined Umno.
This was just before the April 1982 general election, which gave the then new government of Dr Mahathir Mohamad an “Islamic” credential, and during the young ulama revolt against Asri Muda’s leadership of PAS, which was seen as more Malay nationalist in orientation, at the party’s muktamar (general assembly) in October 1982. Read the rest of this entry »
Hudud sebagai tukul
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Tuesday, 17 March 2015
oleh Liew Chin Tong
Roketkini
17 Mac 2015
Kisah sebenar di sebalik langkah hudud Kelantan
Tukul dihayun untuk menimbulkan retak antara dua parti. Di Malaysia, pelaksanaan undang-undang jenayah Islam atau hudud adalah tukul yang dicipta untuk memecah-belahkan Pakatan Rakyat dan sekaligus mengukuhkan kedudukan anasir pro-UMNO dalam PAS serta melemahkan para pemimpin parti itu yang pro-Pakatan Rakyat.
Saya sememangnya seorang pemimpin DAP, namun makalah ini saya tulis sebagai seorang mantan ahli akademik yang telah mengabdikan masa empat tahun daripada usia muda untuk memahami dinamika dalaman PAS sedekad setengah yang lalu. Sejak itu saya telah menerbitkan beberapa karya akademik berkenaan subjek ini. Read the rest of this entry »
Tiada siapa menentang kepimpinan ulama
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Tuesday, 17 March 2015
A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
17 March 2015
Muktamar PAS ke-61 pada Jun ini akan menentukan segalanya, sama ada parti itu mampu melakukan perubahan atau terus menjadi parti yang terbuka.
Ini perlu difikirkan semua pihak, terutamanya perwakilan yang menentukan pemimpin yang akan menerajui PAS pada masa depan. Adakah pemimpin dipilih itu mahu melakukan perubahan dan terus menjadi parti yang terbuka atau mungkin berundur ke belakang dan menjadi tertutup?
Dalam pada itu, orang di luar PAS – terutama dalam kalangan Pakatan Rakyat (PR) iaitu PKR dan DAP – akan memerhatikan keputusan muktamar Jun ini, sama ada PAS akan terus mengeratkan hubungan dengan Pakatan Rakyat atau semakin menjauhkan diri.
Sesungguhnya tidak dapat dinafikan, di dalam PAS sudah terbahagi kepada 2 golongan, iaitu golongan konservatif yang tidak bersedia melakukan perubahan dan golongan progresif dan mahukan perubahan. Read the rest of this entry »
The die seems to be cast – the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Common Policy Framework (CPF) will be broken by PAS Kelantan and no one in the national PAS leadership is prepared, capable or has the power to remind PAS Kelantan State Government to honour the PR CPF
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Monday, 16 March 2015
The die seems to be cast, with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Common Policy Framework (CPF) set to be broken by PAS Kelantan in the Kelantan State Assembly on Wednesday.
The Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah has reiterated almost everyday that against the decision of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council on March 12, the PAS Kelantan State Government is going ahead with the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment.
It is would appear that no one in the national PAS leadership is prepared, capable or have the power to remind the PAS Kelantan State Government that it should honour the PR Common Policy Framework.
If hudud had been a hot controversial issue in the 13th General Election on May 5, 2013, the UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition would not only have regained its two-thirds parliamentary majority, Pakatan Rakyat would have lost Selangor apart from Kedah, and Johore would have reverted as an invincible UMNO/Barisan Nasional “fixed-deposit” state. Read the rest of this entry »
Is hudud all that matters to the Kelantan government?
COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
16 March 2015
Perhaps it is a case of come hell or high water, the Kelantan government is just set on ensuring that Islamic criminal law or hudud can be implemented in the Malay heartland state.
After all, high water did come to pass last December when floods swept through the state and left tens of thousands homeless. And hell is just another way to describe the slumping economy that Kelantan folk have complained over the years.
Despite years of economic drift, the state is still under PAS since 1990, much to the chagrin of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) which have been struggling to wrest it from the Islamist party over the years.
But perhaps the clerics who run PAS should pause and take heed of the latest Merdeka Center survey issued today. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS, MCA, Gerakan all falling into UMNO trap to use “UG” to divide, destabilize and destroy Pakatan Rakyat as well as to save UMNO from being voted out office in Putrajaya in the 14GE
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, PKR on Sunday, 15 March 2015
The reiteration of the PAS Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah that PAS would table the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Bill “without any amendment, regardless of DAP’s view” in the Kelantan State Assembly on Wednesday, 18th March 2015, would be pushing the seven-year-old Pakatan Rakyat to breaking point.
It is not just the DAP views, but if the decisions made at the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council, represented by the top leaders of DAP, PKR and PAS, including the latest PR Leadership Council meeting of March 12, 2015, are repeatedly disregarded or violated, then the present format of Pakatan Rakyat cannot function or continue.
This will be a great pity, for it will mark the triumph of UMNO conspirators who have been trying their utmost in the past seven years to use the bait of “UG” (unity government between UMNO and PAS) and in the past year the additional bait of “hudud implementation in Kelantan” to achieve their objective to divide, destabilize and destroy the most formidable coalition challenge to be faced by UMNO/BN – the Pakatan Rakyat of DAP, PKR and PAS – as well as to save UMNO from being voted out of office in Putrajaya in the 14GE.
The writing on the wall is unmistakable. Read the rest of this entry »
UMNO’s “Unity Government” plotters now celebrating for they believe they will be able to achieve a major breakthrough for their seven-year-old conspiracy in four days’ time
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, PKR on Saturday, 14 March 2015
UMNO’s “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) plotters are now celebrating for they believe they will be able to achieve a major breakthrough for their seven-year conspiracy in four days’ time.
Although UMNO’s “UG” conspirators hatched their plot immediately after the 12th General Elections in 2008, they could not make any headway, although over the years, the UMNO “UG” plotters have refined their game and overcome one obstacle after another.
The UMNO “UG” plot had right from the beginning involved the highest UMNO levels – like the present and former UMNO Presidents and Prime Ministers – and a very high-level meeting was held in the first few months after the 12th General Elections but plotters came away empty-handed.
The “UG” plotters found the obstacles quite impregnable, especially in the steely, principled and consistent opposition of the late Mursyidul Am PAS, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
In fact, when the “UG” concept was revived again over the Selangor Mentri Besar crisis in the third quarter of last year, there was an article in The Malaysian Insider entitled: “Jangan cakap soal gabung PAS – UMNO selagi Nik Aziz ada, kata penganalisis”, quoting a political analyst who said it was better not to discuss it as it was impossible so long Nik Aziz was still alive. Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan Rakyat leaders must be vigilant on the watch-out for UMNO/BN agent provocateurs who are trying to wreak maximum damage to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity to distract attention from mounting UMNO/BN woes
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Friday, 6 March 2015
Pakatan Rakyat leaders must be vigilant on the watch-out for UMNO/BN agent provocateurs who are trying to wreak maximum damage to destabilise, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity to distract attention from mounting UMNO/BN woes.
The responsibility of UMNO/BN agent provocateurs for the recent assaults on PAS leaders, like PAS MP Dr. Hatta Ramli and Dr. Dzukefly Ahmad have not and cannot be ruled out – which is why Pakatan Raykat leaders should be very careful about what they say and do in public.
It is very unfortunate that the Kelantan PAS Deputy Mentri Besar and Deputy Commissioner (I) Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah had adopted such a negative attitude as to say that the door was closed to DAP in its bid to stop PAS from bringing its hudud Bill to the Kelantan State Assembly, and that there will be no more talk with DAP, claiming that he had explained the reasons behind the Kelantan hudud amendment to DAP’s top leaders at least four times.
He even asked: “What more do they want?”
Read the rest of this entry »
PAS, ‘GU’ dan politik realistik
– Huzaifah Ahmad Yamani
The Malaysian Insider
4 March 2015
Dalam kamus ada satu istilah disebut realisme. Makna mudahnya, fahaman yang berpijak di bumi nyata. Apabila seseorang cuba menyesuaikan diri dengan keadaan, kita memanggilnya realistik. Misalnya, apabila kita berjimat cermat dek kerana kenaikan harga minyak dan Cukai Barangan dan Perkhidmatan (GST), ertinya kita seorang yang realistik. Dunia realisme perlu difahami, termasuklah dalam dunia politik.
Apa yang menjadi perdebatan dalaman PAS, antara golongan GU – Erdogan atau sebut sajalah apa pun namanya, bagi saya bertitik tolak dari ‘realisme politik’ inilah. Satu pihak masih mahu mempertahankan ‘status quo’, dan satu pihak lagi mahu berubah dan menjadi ‘realistik’ dengan keperluan zaman.
Nah, ada beberapa persoalan ingin saya ajukan. Satu, salahkah PAS berubah dan menjadi realistik? Dua, apa ‘status quo’ PAS yang sebenarnya? Tiga, antara kumpulan GU – Erdogan ini, mana lebih diperlukan dalam dunia politik Malaysia? Read the rest of this entry »
Gerakan and MCA reacted even more ferociously than PAS and UMNO to my suggestion of postponement of bill on hudud implementation in Kelantan State Assembly because they have completely lapped up UMNO plot to use the issue to break Pakatan Rakyat
Yesterday, I suggested the postponement of a bill to amend the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code which is scheduled to be presented to the Kelantan State Assembly meeting beginning on March 18, as up to date, the bill has not been presented to the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council for study, as was decided by all the Pakatan Rakyat leaders from DAP, PKR and PAS at the meeting of Feb. 8.
This is to give adequate time for the Pakatan Rakyat parties to study the proposed amendment bill, but even more important, not to provide Prime Minister and UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak and UMNO strategists the political life-line and the opportunity to further their “UG” (unity government between UMNO and PAs) and “hudud” political games solely to save themselves and to destabilize, divide and destroy Pakatan Rakyat unity and remove the challenge to replace UMNO/BN in Putrajaya in the 14th General Elections.
I am not really surprised that the strongest objection to my postponement proposal has not come from either PAS or UMNO, but from Gerakan and MCA. Within hours, the Gerakan reacted in outrage at the suggestion.
Why? This is because MCA and Gerakan leaders had been salivating at the prospect of Kelantan State Assembly passing an amendment bill by the PAS Kelantan State Government to the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code with the support by Kelantan UMNO State Assemblymen, because they planned to use the Kelantan State Assembly passage of the hudud bill to launch a publicity offensive to attack the DAP. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Ustaz Haraki’, terimalah cabaran debat
A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
3 March 2015
Belum pernah seingat saya, terjadi krisis setajam ini di dalam PAS sepanjang 63 tahun penubuhannya, sehingga telah muncul pelbagai tuduhan seperti sesat, barua, songsang, liberal dan pelbagai kata-kata kesat yang sangat tidak elok disebutkan.
Ini menggambarkan bahawa tahap krisis di dalam PAS ini sudah sampai ke peringkat parah di mana Umno/BN – musuh politik PAS selama ini – mendapat “keuntungan politik” daripada krisis dalaman PAS ini.
Krisis ini telah bertambah marak dalam program Multaqa Ulama baru-baru ini, iaitu apabila tercetus serangan bertubi-tubi dari yang menggelar dirinya “Ustaz Haraki” terhadap golongan yang bukan ustaz, khususnya golongan profesional.
Mereka melancarkan pelbagai tuduhan, persepsi yang salah, melemparkan kata-kata kesat yang tidak disebut mereka yang bergelar ustaz, tetapi telah keluar dengan bebasnya dari mulut “Ustaz Haraki”.
Mereka menuduh kononnya beberapa pimpinan PAS di peringkat pusat bersekongkol menjatuhkan presiden PAS. Read the rest of this entry »
As amendment bill to the 1993 Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code has not yet been presented to Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council for study, suggest deferment of any presentation to Kelantan State Assembly this month
Posted by Kit in Islam, Kelantan, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Overnight, the political position of Datuk Seri Najib Razak seemed to have undergone a sea-change for the worse, particularly with the London Sunday Times report on Sunday, March 1, 2015 that its joint in-depth investigations into the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal with Sarawak Report website had been completed and they had obtained access to thousands of documents and emails relating to 1MDB, including its initial joint venture with the little known oil company PetroSaudi International from 2009.
As the news portal Asian Sentinel as aptly headlined its report, “Emails Blow Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Wide Open”, the joint investigations by Sunday Times London and Sarawak Report had foiled abrupt attempts by 1MDB at the end last year to call in all of its computers, employee laptops and servers to wipe them clean of all emails.
This evening, in an email interview with Malaysiakini, Sarawak Report editor and founder Clare Rewcastle Brown confirmed that she is in possession of “thousands documents” on the dealings of 1MDB and businessman Taek Jho Low’s role in the 1MDB which were neither “forged nor hacked” material.
Although these are body blows to Najib politically, he remains a paradox of being a very weak Prime Minister whose major policy initiatives had all been dismal failures but a strong UMNO President largely because no strong UMNO contender has emerged to threaten his position – unlike his predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi who was both a weak Prime Minister as well as a weak UMNO President, setting the stage for his easy replacement.
However, the political dynamics and disequilibrium both inside UMNO and outside will increase in intensity, focusing immediate attention not only on the forthcoming national UMNO Divisional Meeting on March 8 but also on the Kelantan State Assembly scheduled to meet on March 18.
The greater the political pressures on Najib arising from a host of political, economic, financial and family scandals, the more Machiavellian UMNO leaders and strategists will be to distract public attention from their political woes, which means the doubling up of plots and conspiracies to try to destabilize, divide and destroy PAS and Pakatan Rakyat as promoting “UG” (Unity Government between UMNO and PAS) and the false lure of Kelantan UMNO State Assemblymen offering support to Kelantan PAS for hudud implementation in the Kelantan State Assembly this month. Read the rest of this entry »
Hudud: Umno has trapped and shackled Pas
— P Ramakrishnan
The Malay Mail Online
March 2, 2015
MARCH 2 — No one dreamt that Pas would be easily enticed to cooperate with Umno. But Umno has its hidden agenda to break up Pakatan Rakyat in order to weaken the opposition.
It has promised to support Pas when the hudud bill is tabled on 18 March in the Kelantan state assembly. This is being taken as support for hudud — which is utterly fallacious.
What choice has Umno in this issue? Can it vote against the Pas hudud bill? It cannot! It has to prove to the Malays that it is for hudud. It would be suicidal for Umno not to vote with Pas. There are no two ways about it for Umno.
It is merely hoodwinking Pas into thinking that it is helping the Islamist party to implement hudud in Kelantan.
Umno’s strategy is meant not only to weaken Pakatan Rakyat by successfully creating dissension within the coalition, it has an ulterior motive as well. It is also to drive away non-Malay support for Pas, which was given freely on the basis of Pakatan’s agreed common platform. Read the rest of this entry »
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