Archive for category PAS
One year after GE13, lost in sea of politicking
Posted by Kit in DAP, Najib Razak, PAS, UMNO on Friday, 9 May 2014
Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
May 5, 2014
COMMENT Today marks the one year anniversary of the historic 13th general election. This election was pivotal in the country’s history as the incumbent BN coalition held onto power, with the opposition calls for ‘change’ unfulfilled.
Scholars have highlighted the fundamental shifts in the power of Umno, the imbalance of the opposition parties, the rise in influence and political awakenings of East Malaysia and the electoral irregularities, among many profound structural changes.
In other ordinary ways, Malaysian politics has also changed, with greater cynicism, insecurities and anger more prominent in public life. This is across the political divide. News reports feature troubling reports of increased racial tensions, political polarisation and continued shortcomings in governance.
This article highlights some of the ongoing dynamics in contemporary Malaysian political life, which are both worrying and offer promise ahead. Read the rest of this entry »
Karpal was anti-hudud, but never anti-Islam, says PAS lawmaker
by Looi Sue-Chern
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 06, 2014
A PAS leader yesterday sought to heal the tension between DAP and the Islamist party over the hudud issue when he said that the late Karpal Singh, although strongly opposed to hudud, was never anti-Islam.
Speaking at a memorial service for the late Karpal at the Han Chiang High School in Penang last night, PAS lawmaker Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusuf Rawa said the former DAP chairman always stood by his principles in objecting to the implementation of hudud and the setting up of an Islamic state.
“But he (Karpal) was never a man who was anti-Islam,” Mujahid said. Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan can’t sustain strong GE13 win in next polls due to internal strife, disagreements, forum told
Posted by Kit in DAP, Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Tuesday, 6 May 2014
BY ANISAH SHUKRY
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 06, 2014
Election 2013 could be the last strong win by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as the issue of hudud, internal party conflicts and a lack of effort to court rural voters will hurt its chances in the next general election, a forum was told last night.
Speaking at the “GE 14: Will there be another political tsunami?” forum, panellists Liew Chin Tong, Wan Hamidi Hamid and Hishamuddin Rais noted that in the past year since the May 5 polls, the opposition pact had gained little ground in their dream to capture Putrajaya despite winning more seats in the 13th general election.
Liew said the hudud issue had worsened PR’s chances of triggering a political tsunami in the next election, and urged its Islamist ally PAS to review its priorities.
“Hudud was a strategy for PAS to affirm its Islamic identity. But does it remain a relevant strategy, or are we just trapping ourselves behind this one single theme? What is our priority? Hudud, or economic justice?” the Kluang MP said at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. Read the rest of this entry »
Hudud’s practical problems: The non-Muslim witness, state boundaries and the Constitution
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam, PAS on Sunday, 4 May 2014
by Boo Su-Lyn and Joseph Sipalan
The Malay Mail Online
MAY 4, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Even if PAS wins Parliament’s nod for its hudud bid, lawyers say the Islamist party will face even greater hurdles when the controversial law is implemented in Kelantan.
They said not only does the Islamic penal code run contrary to the Federal Constitution, it would also have limited reach in that it could not prescribe punishment on criminals who flee the state’s borders.
To complicate things further, the Shariah Court cannot compel a non-Muslim witness to testify before it and cannot cite them for perjury or contempt of court as its jurisdiction only covers Muslims, they said.
“It’s unworkable because non-Muslims will not be subject to those provisions, which means your witnesses, your accomplices who are non-Muslims, will not appear in those cases,” Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong told The Malay Mail Online.
“It’s non-compellable. I don’t have to answer your questions, let alone attend court,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »
Hudud, Islamic State and Malaysia’s future
Posted by Kit in DAP, Islamic state, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Saturday, 3 May 2014
Neil Khor
Malaysiakini
May 2, 2014
COMMENT Come June 2014, some 56 years after independence, Malaysian parliamentarians will decide whether we are going to evolve into an Islamic State as a private members bill allowing the implementation of Hudud Laws in Kelantan is put to them.
For those committed to secularism like this writer, the mind boggles with questions of how we came to this cross-roads after half a century of urbanization and industrialization?
Did Globalization pass us by and left us more conservative or did we take a peek at the world and have decided to reject it.
Confucius said that one has to walk in the shoes of others to understand their perspective. To some Malaysians, the journey from independence through nation building is only meaningful if we recover our full integrity by returning this land to its original state prior to Western colonialism.
To them, Malaya continues to be defined not by its multiculturalism but by its Islamic heritage. Society can only fully recover if Muslims live by the laws of their religion. Read the rest of this entry »
PAS penentu masa depan Pakatan Rakyat?
Posted by Kit in Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Wan Hamidi Hamid
The Malaysian Insider
April 30, 2014
Sejak penubuhannya pada 1951, PAS tidak pernah putus asa dalam perjuangan politiknya. Ramai pemimpinnya menjadi mangsa kezaliman pemerintah Perikatan dan kemudiannya Barisan Nasional.
Namun, selepas setiap ketika kezaliman dan kekejaman dirasai, seolah-olah ada pemimpin PAS yang lupa dengan apa yang pimpinan Umno lakukan terhadap parti mereka.
Tetapi ramai lagi ahli-ahli PAS yang tidak lupa dengan kelicikan politik Umno. Read the rest of this entry »
Why hudud is unconstitutional and impractical
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islam, PAS on Monday, 28 April 2014
– Low Teck Kuan
The Malaysian Insider
April 26, 2014
PAS has recently been extremely persistent in pushing for the implementation of hudud in Kelantan. Despite numerous warnings by other political parties against their agenda, PAS seems hell bent on introducing a Private Members Bill in Parliament to further their own political agenda.
However, here lies the big question: Is it possible to implement one set of criminal law (hudud) in one state and have the rest of other states and Federal Territories obeying another set of criminal law?
Certainly no, because let’s be clear on this, you cannot have one set of law for one state on crime and another set of criminal law for other states. Not only it is impractical, it also seeks to disrupt the basic structure and relationship between the Federal and the states which was laid down by our founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman. It is also unconstitutional as PAS’s constant attempt at introducing hudud also seeks usurp federal powers at the same time.
Part VI of the Federal Constitution defines the relations between Federal and the states, where therein lies Article 73 to 79 of the Federal Constitution which laid down Parliament’s (Federal level) exclusive power to make law. Specifically, Article 74 (1) states that “…Parliament may make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the Federal List or the Concurrent List…” while Article 74(2) states that “…the Legislature of a State may make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List…” Read the rest of this entry »
Is MCA president Liong Tiong Lai prepared to declare that MCA will not return to BN Cabinet unless Najib gives assurance that the secular Malaysian Constitution will be upheld including no hudud laws and the retraction of Mahathir’s “929” declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic State?
Posted by Kit in DAP, Islam, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Monday, 28 April 2014
I am quite amused by the ferocious statement by the MCA deputy secretary-general Datuk Wee Jeck Seng demanding that DAP “kick out” Lim Guan Eng and myself “for agreeing with hudud” and as “payback” for going back on our promises.
Amused because I could still remember vividly that Jeck Seng was initially dropped as a candidate for Tanjong Piai parliamentary seat in Johore in the 13th General Elections last year, and overnight the MCA and Barisan Nasional flags and symbols not only disappeared from Pontian area, DAP received feelers that he was prepared to contest on a DAP ticket in Tanjong Piai as he did not fancy contesting in the Johor State Assembly constituency of Pekan Nenas to which he was assigned.
DAP would have no truck with such a political opportunist but Jeck Seng got back the Tanjong Piai parliamentary seat after his supporters kicked up quite a furore against the decision of the then MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek.
With such an “outstanding” political background, whatever Jeck Seng says needed to taken with more than a pinch of salt and no one is surprised that his statement yesterday was built on a great lie – that DAP leaders have agreed to the implementation of hudud.
Sin Chew Daily had reported in a box in the past few days what it described as the three-point agreement of the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council on hudud on Sept. 28, 2011, which is not a very correct version or translation (particularly Point 1) of the PR Leadership Joint Statement signed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PKR, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang on behalf of PAS and myself on behalf of DAP, as the relevant two paragraphs were as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Moratorium call on statements by Pakatan Rakyat leaders on latest hudud controversy to refer issue to Majlis Pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat for decision
Posted by Kit in Islam, Islamic state, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Sunday, 27 April 2014
(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Sunday, 27th April 2014)
For the first time in six years after the “political tsunami” of the 12GE in March 2008, the overly-paid strategists, plotters and schemers of UMNO/BN must be feeling on top of the world and rubbing their hands with glee for they have finally vindicated their existence and colossal expenditures.
They believe that they have struck gold and have finally succeeded in putting in place their formula to ensure the end of the political threat posed by Pakatan Rakyat and the return to Putrajaya of UMNO and BN in the 14GE by the perpetuation of the political and power structure of Umno/BN even in the years after 2020.
Three days ago, the Deputy Mentri Besar of Kelantan, Datuk Nik Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah publicly said that DAP and PKR should stay off the hudud bill controversy on the ground that “they have no right to interfere” in the PAS agenda to implement hudud in Kelantan.
He said that in the common policy framework signed among Pakatan Rakyat component parties on September 28, 2011, PAS only agreed to not impose on its long-standing objective for Malaysia to be recognised as an Islamic State.
He said the agreement is limited at the national level but in the context of Kelantan it is different because hudud was enacted way back in 1993, before the opposition pact was realised. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP Muslim MP waves off PAS’ hudud move
Posted by Kit in DAP, Islam, Parliament, PAS on Sunday, 27 April 2014
Malaysiakini
Apr 26, 2014
Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, one of only two DAP Muslim MPs, says he is obligated to support hudud law because of his religion but will still not back PAS’ private member’s bill on the matter.
The Raub MP said regardless of personal views, the reality is the country’s secular constitution and if PAS wants to implement hudud law it must first push for a new Islamic constitution.
Until then, Ariff Sabri said PAS should not force other Muslims to back it’s hudud plan by questioning their faith.
“PAS must do the right thing first – secure parliament and change the constitution Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan Rakyat would suffer devastating setbacks in Perak, Pahang, Negri Sembilan and Melaka in the 13GE if hudud had been a major controversial issue in 2013 general elections
Yesterday I wrote about how hudud was never a vote-winner for PAS in previous elections and would have given back to the Barisan National (BN) two-thirds majority control of parliament and cost Pakatan Rakyat (PR) the state of Selangor if hudud had been part of the PR Manifesto prior to GE2013. PR would still have lost the Kedah state government and Johor would have reverted to being a BN “fixed deposit” state.
How would PR’s performance in the other states been affected namely Perak, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka if hudud had been a major controversial issue in the 13GE?
The answer is that Pakatan Rakyat would have suffered devastating setbacks in Perak, Pahang, Negri Sembilan and Melaka in the 13GE if hudud had been a major controversial issue in the 2013 general elections.
In Perak, Pakatan was two seats short of forming the state government in GE2013. If hudud had been part of Pakatan’s manifesto, instead of the 28 state seats won, PR would have only won 17 state seats with a 20% drop in non-Malay support (Scenario 3). PAS and PKR would have been reduced to 1 and 2 seats respectively from 5 seats each. DAP would have only won 14 seats rather than the 18 it actually won. (Table 1 below) Read the rest of this entry »
If hudud had been a hot controversial issue in the 13GE, Barisan Nasional would not only have regained two-thirds parliamentary majority to redelineate electoral constituencies at will, Pakatan Rakyat might have lost Selangor and Johore would have reverted as invincible BN “fixed-deposit” state
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, PKR on Thursday, 24 April 2014
If hudud had been a hot controversial issue in the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013, the Barisan Nasional would not only have regained its two-thirds parliamentary majority to redelineate electoral constituencies at will, Pakatan Rakyat might have lost Selangor apart from Kedah and Johore would have reverted as an invincible Barisan Nasional “fixed-deposit” state.
The hudud issue has never been and will never be a vote winner for PAS based on past electoral evidence.
PAS and PKR won all 8 parliamentary seats and 28 out of 32 state seats in Terengganu in the 1999 GE / GE10 because of the backlash against UMNO arising from Anwar’s arrest and the Reformasi movement.
But despite passing the state hudud enactment in 2001, PAS and PKR only managed to retain 1 out of 8 parliament seats and 4 out of 28 state seats in the 2004 GE / GE11.
Furthermore, PAS and PKR won 4 out of 8 parliament and 15 out of 32 state seats in GE13 in Terengganu without campaigning explicitly to implement hudud in the state.
In fact, according to the ‘5 Janji Awal Manifesto PAS Terengganu’ and ‘5 Lagi Manifesto PRU13’ for GE13, the issue of hudud was not even mentioned. The failure to mention hudud in the state manifesto did not cause PAS to lose any ground in Terengganu.
Read the rest of this entry »
DAP offers to school MCA on party’s hudud stance
BY MELISSA CHI
The Malay Mail Online
April 11, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — Frustrated by repeated calls from MCA leaders for the DAP to make a stand on hudud, Lim Kit Siang told his political rivals today that his party will offer a free “kindergarten course” to set the record straight.
At a press conference here, the DAP veteran told MCA leaders that his party has never changed its position on hudud and will continue to maintain the opinion that the controversial Islamic penal code does not suit a multi-racial society like Malaysia.
“It is against the secular constitution of Malaysia and it’s not part of the Pakatan Rakyat policy consensus and therefore there is no change in DAP’s position or of any of the DAP leaders or DAP MPs, our position remains the same as in the past.
“So if MCA leaders find that they need to go to kindergarten to know our position, please read up on our statements, we have a full archive for them, we are prepared to give MCA leaders including their president and it’s deputy president a kindergarten course about DAP’s stand on hudud and other matters, we’ll give it free of charge also,” he told reporters at the DAP headquarters. Read the rest of this entry »
Johor is now the front-line state in the 14GE as PR victory in both Putrajaya and Nusajaya are now within reach for the first time in nation’s history
I congratulate PAS Johor for its successful three-day 60th Anniversary Carnival concluding with the ceramah tonight.
For 90 per cent of its 60-year history in the state, PAS Johor faced an uphill battle in the state as Johor had all along been the fixed deposit state and virtually unshakeable fortress of UMNO and Barisan Nasional.
But a political sea change took place in the last 10 per cent of the 60-year history of PAS Johor, which succeeded in achieving a political breakthrough in the 2008 General Elections winning two State Assembly seats which increased to four State Assembly seats in the 2013 general elections last May.
Before 2008, if anybody should ask whether it is possible for the Oposition to win power in the Johor State Government, the answer would be an unanimous and categorical “No”!
But after the 2013 General Elections, if anybody should ask whether it is possible for Pakatan Rakyat to win the Johor State Government in Nusajaya, the answer would be a powerful “Yes” for the majority of thinking people in the State. Read the rest of this entry »
I fully agree with establishment of RCI into the May 13 riots in 1969
Yesterday, I called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 29-year-old Memali Incident, especially as the protagonists like former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, former Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar, former Acting Inspector-General of Police,Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Amin bin Osman, the then Information Minister Tan Sri Rais Yatim, Deputy Home Minister at the time, Tan Sri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, the then UMNO Secretary-General Tan Sri Sanusi Junid, the OCPD Baling during the Memali incident, Tunku Muszaffar Shah and a follower of Ibrahim Libya who is now Senator Muhamad Yusof Husin from Baling, Kedah are still alive and can testify on the avoidable tragedy which cost the lives of 18 people, including four policemen.
I made this call following the revelation by Musa in a public discussion organised by the Kelantan State Government Kota Bahru four nights ago that Mahathir was in Malaysia during the bloody Memali incident on Nov. 19, 1985 when police forces killed Ibrahim Libya and his followers in a clash which resulted in 18 casualties, including four policemen.
Musa’s revelation has come as a shocker as close to three decades, it was reported and believed that Musa took charge of the operations as Home Minister in 1985 because Mahathir was in China for a visit.
Musa said in Kota Bahru: “In fact, two three days after that (Memali) he was still in KL.” Read the rest of this entry »
Call for RCI into the 29-year Memali incident, especially as the protagonists like Mahathir and Musa Hitam are still alive and can testify on the tragedy which cost the lives of 18 people (including four policemen)
Former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, laid bare one of the nation’s longest-kept secrets when he revealed that the then Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, was in Malaysia during the bloody Memali incident on Nov. 19, 1985 when police forces killed Ibrahim Libya and his followers in a clash which resulted in 18 casualties, including four policemen.
Musa’s revelation at a public discussion organised by Kelantan State Government held in Kota Bahru three nights ago came as a shocker as close to three decades, it was reported and believed that Musa took charge of the operations as Home Minister in 1985 because Mahathir was in China for a visit.
However, Musa said in Kota Bahru that Mahathir was in Kuala Lumpur when the bloodshed took place, adding: “In fact, two three days after that he was still in KL.”
In his response, Mahathir said he could not remember if he was in the country during the Memali incident and that he would have to check into his records to verify if Musa’s claim was true.
It is just incredulous and completely unbelievable that a person credited with an elephantine memory could not remember such an important detail in an incident, which together with two other incidents, must rank as his three “blackest and darkest” episodes in his 22-year premiership, especially as the Memali tragedy claimed 18 lives, which included four policemen. Read the rest of this entry »
Zahid Hamidi, stop making Malaysia a laughing stock
Posted by Kit in Islam, Law & Order, PAS on Wednesday, 18 December 2013
– Dyana Sofya
The Malaysian Insider
December 18, 2013
Dear Zahid Hamidi, what happened to innocent until proven guilty?
The controversy surrounding Zahid Hamidi and Mat Sabu where the minister claimed that Mat Sabu is a Shiite, followed by the Ministry of Home Affairs’s 10 pieces of evidence to back the claim, has become the laughing stock throughout the nation.
Soon after, the ministry covered up by saying that the 10 pieces of evidence are only Grade B evidence, and that it would soon provide Grade A evidence to prove the Minister’s claim.
Not just that, Mat Sabu was asked to prove his innocence or rather his non involvement with Shiite movement.
Dear Minister of Home Affairs, what happened to rule of law where one is innocent until proven guilty? Read the rest of this entry »
In ‘Islamist’ Umno, analysts see a nation torn by religion
By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malay Mail Online
December 10, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — Umno’s increasing focus on Islam will likely spark inter and intra-religious tensions here, and even affect the country’s development, analysts have said as they warned of the dangers of placing one religion, or denomination, above another.
The political observers noted that in recent months, Umno appears to have entered a competition to “out-Islamise” Islamist PAS, the one opposition party seen as its biggest competitor for the Malay-Muslim vote, the country’s key voting demographic.
Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive of libertarian think tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), even said Umno’s 67th general assembly last week seemed very much like a gathering by PAS two decades ago.
“I must say it’s really disappointing to see the Umno assembly becoming like what PAS was 20 years ago,” Wan Saiful told The Malay Mail Online yesterday.
“PAS has moved on. Umno has suddenly become Muslim again… it’s really sad to see the prime minister outside the assembly talking about progressive, liberal views.
“But, in his own party, at the annual gathering, it’s like attending a PAS gathering 20 years ago,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir should end his game of mischief in trying to demonise Pakatan Rakyat parties and incite racial hatred and conflict
The Malaysian Insider today reported a column in Utusan Malaysia by Tun Dr. Mahathir showing that the former Prime Minister is still up to his game of mischief to demonise Pakatan Rakyat parties and incite racial hatred and conflict in the country.
Mahathir said PAS will never lead Malaysia and even if Pakatan Rakyat captures Putrajaya it will be a junior partner and a DAP puppet.
Before the 13GE, DAP was accused of being a PAS puppet among the Chinese and non-Malay voters while PAS was accused of being a DAP puppet among Malay voters.
It would appear that UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists want Malaysian voters to believe that DAP is puppet to PAS, while PAS is puppet to DAP – thinking that Malaysians can be easily fooled into believing that DAP could be puppet to PAS and PAS puppet to DAP!
This is of course utter nonsense, for DAP is no puppet of PAS just as PAS is no puppet of DAP. Just because UMNO can make the other Barisan Nasional parties its puppet does not mean that this is the operating principle in Pakatan Rakyat as well.
Read the rest of this entry »
DAP MP: Gerrymandering protected Umno, not Malays
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Elections, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Thursday, 28 November 2013
By Zurairi AR
The Malay Mail Online
November 28, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — After an admission of gerrymandering by a former Election Commission (EC) chief, a DAP MP today claimed that past re-delineation exercises were only aimed at protecting the interests of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) rather than the Malay community.
According to Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming, the EC would have added more seats in Malay-majority states Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu if it really was protecting the Malay interest as claimed by Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman earlier this week.
“If Tan Sri Abdul Rashid wanted to maintain Malay political dominance, why was it that no parliamentary seats were added to the Malay majority states of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu in the 2003 delineation exercise?,” Ong said in a statement here.
“The reason for the non-addition of parliament seats in these three states is simple …The BN was fearful that if more seats were added in these states, it would benefit the opposition, specifically PAS.” Read the rest of this entry »
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