No reason for Sabah to support Hudud Bill: PKR
Published on: Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: The State government has been urged to make its stand on the proposed Private Member's Bill tabled by PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang following the statement made by Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem who totally rejected the motion on Sunday.State Opposition leader Datuk Lajim Ukin said towards this end, the opposition pact also challenged all Sabah MPs to also reject the motion."In our opinion, both the Bornean states are different because we are unique. I recognise that our rejection of the proposed bill would become an issue to Muslims.
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"First of all, we do not reject Islamic law but we reject on the basis of democratic practises and under the Federal Constitution, where it is stated that although Islam is the official religion, other religions can be freely observed in this country," he said.Therefore, he said, under that law, it is not a priority for the people to support Hudud especially because in Sabah, the Syariah law is already superior to those in the peninsula.He urged the Muslim community in the State not to misinterpret the opposition's stand in the matter as rejecting Islamic law or Hudud."But in terms of implementation and taking into account the environment in Malaysia, it is not suitable for Hudud law because we are a multi-racial and multi-religious society. In Sabah, it is our culture, for the past 200, 300 years that interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims had always been cordial.
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"We can sit in one table and eat and drink together as long as it is halal, no problem. We have practised that friendship for hundreds of years. So we do not need to support the law," he said.
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Lajim said this during a press conference after paying respects to Sabah's leaders who died in the Double Six tragedy at the memorial site here, Monday.Also present were Sabah DAP Chairman Stephen Wong, Api Api Assemblywoman Dr Christina Liew and Likas Assemblyman Junz Wong.According to reports, the Bill seeks to upgrade the existing Syariah law to impose more severe penalties to certain types of offences so it would enable Syariah Courts to penalise offenders more heavily as the current Act is deemed too light and insufficient.Under the current law, the Syariah Court can only penalise offenders with fines up to RM5,000 and six strokes of the cane."The Bill excluded the death penalty but at the same time, it looks for more severe penalty. The question is, how severe? As long as it is not death penalty, anything goes? Amputation of the limbs won't kill you, so would that be included?" he asked.Lajim said that such penalty would be unfair to Muslims and would directly oppose the current Federal Constitution which states that all citizens are equal under the law.Having two sets of laws to govern the people would be unjust especially if Muslims are to be penalised by the Syariah Court while non-Muslims, by the Civil Court.He added that there is also the legitimate fear that this Bill is only a stepping stone towards full implementation of the Hudud law.Nevertheless, he said, the most important question to be asked is why the bill suddenly jumped the queue from item 16 to first and was introduced by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Azalina Othman, who is a BN minister."Is Umno working with PAS? Or this is just a strategy for the upcoming by-elections? what is the stand of the other BN component parties?"Many of the party presidents threatened they will resign if the Bill is passed. So we shall wait and see whether they will have the courage to do so, seeing that all of them are holding ministerial posts," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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